And Opposites Complete the Team
by GokaiYellow
Summary: Adele Tsubasa continues to have the same dream of a team of people every night. When she and her childhood friend Caden Masaharu go on a college trip to Japan, they come to terms with a long-lost past involving their families' duties to the Shiba clan.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Sushi Exchanges

"Attention passengers," announced a soothing stewardess's voice over the system, "We'll be starting our descent into Tokyo shortly. Please stow all carry-ons under your seat..." At those words, a second year college student named Adele Tsubasa began nudging her sleeping seat mate and best friend Caden Masaharu awake. He groaned unhappily and stretched his long, lanky arms outward before moving his seat upright.

"Morning," he greeted her lazily as he pried his chocolate brown eyes open. He studied her worn expression and sighed unhappily.

"That dream again?" he questioned as he put away his headphones, "Wonder how long its going to plague you. Did it get any clearer?" Adele frowned and furrowed her brow as she tried to recollect his face. There were others, one in green, another in blue, a person in yellow, one in pink, and someone in gold. But none of them were as clear as the figure in red. With serious, dark eyes and his hair cut in a sharp but wispy bean sprout cut, everything about him commanded respect and order. She thought she saw a katana at his side as he strode forward with the others behind him. But why was it that she could only see him clearly? He seemed important, almost regal in a way. It puzzled her as to why this dream continued to happen every time she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

"I saw his features this time," she noted, "It felt like I should know who he is but something about him commands complete order and balance." Caden drummed his fingers on his armrests as the plane touched the ground all of a sudden.

"Well maybe that's a sign that you'll meet him here," he commented as they walked off the plane, "Maybe he'll be your soulmate." Adele snorted at her friend's comment and wrinkled her nose. This figure from her dream seemed too structured to even think about romance, no doubt. As they rolled their suitcases behind them, a cell phone went off. Adele stopped short and turned around to face Caden before rolling her eyes skyward. She didn't need to be psychic to guess who was calling him. Caden grimaced as he fished the red cell phone from his pocket and threw her an apologetic look.

"Listen," he began, "This will only take 5 minutes, I swear."

"You know what," sighed Adele, "Just answer. Or else she'll hound me next and start asking how I managed to let you out of my sight after touching down in Tokyo. But don't spend the entire trip on the phone with her, okay?" Caden reassured her that he wouldn't before answering the call from his longtime girlfriend, Kari Xie. Adele glumly joined the small group of her university classmates who traveled from La Jolla, California for a Japanese Cultures and History class. All they were waiting for was the professor and additional professors acting as chaperons. She noticed her teacher's aid talking frantically into his cell phone and becoming quite pale. Suddenly, he snapped the cell shut and announced some grim news: their professor came down with swine flu and was unable to fly in and teach the class. The other professors had gotten on the wrong flight and all of them were delayed. The teacher's aid knew practically nothing about the subject and was in no position to teach.

"So like, what are, like, we're gonna do?" clueless classmate Sandy asked as she twirled a strand of wavy hair. The teacher's aid sighed and reported that this trip was literally going to be just a free trip for everyone. Because the professor was so ill, he was forced to pass everyone on the course regardless of whether they actually did anything in Japan period. Adele made a face and looked over at Caden. She wondered if she dare tell him the news in the case that stupid Kari decided to weasel her way by making Caden come home immediately rather than stay and enjoy their homeland. Then Adele's phone rang and she walked a few feet away to take the call.

"Hey my soul sister," bubbled her hallmate and friend Thea, "How is the Land of the Rising Sun so far?"

"Well...the professor got sick and the travel class became a free-for-all trip to Japan," Adele told her as she leaned against a wall.

"Wow, what luck!" hooted Thea, "Better not tell Miss Don't-Trust-Anyone because she'll be hauling Caden back here faster than a skilled fisherman can reel a big catch in."

"Tell me about it," grumbled Adele as she began to remember the bad times thanks to Kari.

Caden and Kari met as juniors in high school and she clung to him like a sticky piece of gum. She followed him to college and continued to hound him at every moment of his life. Even back then, she was just as rude to Adele. She always managed to cry, whine, and plead Caden to come to her side and to ditch Adele at last minute. There was one instance where Caden tried to solve the problem by bringing both Kari and Adele on an outing. What a joke-Kari kept acting like Adele didn't exist the entire outing. When it came time to pay the lunch bill, she said that Adele didn't deserve to have Caden pick up her share of the tab and demanded that she pay her way. Caden, who was paying for himself and Kari, kept on trying to reason with his girlfriend that Adele was his longtime friend and that he owed her for the times he bailed on her. To shut up Kari, Adele quickly offered to settle the entire bill for the trio which left Caden protesting and Kari throwing her a false, sickly smile.

"She hasn't called you yet, has she?" asked Thea, breaking into Adele's thoughts. Adele snapped back to reality and let her eyes fall on Caden pacing as he talked to Kari.

"No, Caden bought his own international call and text plan for this trip," Adele dryly replied, the words triggering back another sour memory. When Adele and Caden were visiting London over January break in freshmen year, Adele's dad bought her an international text and call plan so she could communicate with them about the day had permitted Caden to borrow the plan as well because the two families were so close. However, Kari had got this news through the grapevine and used it to her advantage. Boy, was Adele unhappy to hear Kari's snippy voice telling her to shut her ugly voice up and to hand the phone to Caden immediately when she received her first call in London. Kari had wasted all of her call minutes over the course of the trip so poor Adele was forced to text rather angrily to her father the information about her daily adventures instead of getting to hear her father's voice. Caden was so embarrassed about the episode that he reimbursed the costs of the calls with 4 weeks of payment from his part-time job. This resulted in a huge fight from Kari and Caden that almost lead to their break-up.

"Hey, I need to get going," Adele quickly told Thea as she snapped out of memory mode, "See you later!"

"Blog those beautiful pictures asap sister!" Thea instructed her, "I'll be stalking your LiveJournal this summer every day."

"Deal," smiled Adele as she hung up the phone. Caden had finished his call and joined her. They began walking toward the hotel shuttle.

"Did you hear the news?" Adele slowly began. Caden shook his head and replied that he was too far away to hear the teacher's aid.

"It must have been bad," he remarked as he handed his suitcase to the driver, "What did he say?"

"Professor came down with swine flu at the last minute," sighed Adele, "The other professors are stuck and can't get here immediately. And the teacher's aid can't really teach the class so this travel course has become a free trip." She held her breath, waiting to see if Caden would turn around to buy a return ticket now to shut up Kari's complaining immediately.

"Bummer for the prof," he replied sympathetically as he helped her with her suitcase, "But hey, we can do whatever we want! And go to Tokyo Disneyland!" Adele let out the breath she had been holding in as she boarded the shuttle and sat down.

"What's the sigh of relief for?" Caden asked her curiously as he sat down next to her, "What? You thought I was going back for Kari, weren't you? Nah, this trip was expensive and I'd like to take in the sights of my half-heritage, don't you?"

"Yeah," Adele echoed cheerfully as she settled back into her seat. It was going to be like old times. No Kari there to physically harass her. Just pure amusement and breathtaking sights waiting to be photographed for her blog. She couldn't be more happier.

...

"I'm hungry," Caden announced as he met Adele back in the lobby again after dropping off their bags in their rooms. Adele agreed as she played with a white dangling object bearing the kanji for 'yang' on the front in black, which was clipped to her belt. She liked to think of this as a lucky charm since she swore that good things always seemed to happen when she wore it on her belt loop. It was her grandmother's which had been passed down to her mother, then to her. Caden had one too-his was black with the white character for 'yin' on the front but his came from his grandfather.

"Lucky charm with you?" Caden remarked as he pointed to the object clipped to her belt, "Me too." His was attached to his belt loop too. Adele smiled weakly since it felt so long ago that they were doing this: hanging out, lucky charms by their sides, ready to conquer the challenges ahead.

"Why not we wander around and eat when we find something that tickles our fancy," Adele suggested as they began walking out of the lobby. Caden agreed as they walked alongside the rail of the bay located near their hotel. It wasn't long before Adele pointed out a lonely sushi cart and they walked over to check it out.

"Gold Sushi, huh?" mused Caden as he read the Japanese lettering on the cart's banner. The young man manning the cart stood up proudly and welcomed them.

"Welcome! What may I get for you today?" he asked them cheerily in Japanese as he tightened his forehead tie.

"What would be your speciality Sir?" asked Adele politely in Japanese. The man clapped his hands together and started making sushi with rapid speed.

Adele watched him in amazement and Caden whispered, "Too bad there's no such thing as California Roll here." The young sushi maker stopped immediately and stared at Caden intently.

"California Roll?" he asked all of a sudden in English, "I've heard of it when I began selling in Paris. That can be made!" Adele blinked in shock and Caden dropped his jaw open. Did the sushi seller just speak English?

"Did you just answer in English?" Caden slowly asked the young sushi seller. The sushi seller continued to make rolls and drew himself up proudly.

"I'm self-taught," he boasted cheerfully, "Learned when I started in Paris since so many American tourists were buying my sushi!" The young man reached under the counter and placed an avocado on the cutting board in front of him.

"Are you two Americans?" he asked the pair as he cut the avocado up, "Is this your first trip to Japan?"

"Yes it is," Adele replied kindly, "I'm Adele Tsubasa and this is my friend Caden Masaharu. We're half-Japanese."

"We were visiting with our university class," Caden began, "But the professor caught swine flu so the trip became a fun trip." The sushi seller clapped his hands with joy before handing the two their sushi plates. Both began to pull out yen bills and the sushi seller waved them away.

"On the house," he insisted as the two put away their wallets, "I'm Genta Umemori! That is better than being cooped up in a building! You do what you want now!" Adele gave him a polite smile before digging into her food. Caden had barely raised his chopsticks to his lips when his cell went off. Adele looked skyward with a knowing, slightly sarcastic spark in her eyes. Caden bowed his head and excused himself before going to answer the call from Kari. Genta blinked in amazement as he watched Caden quickly remove the red cell phone from his pocket and abruptly leave to answer the call. It couldn't be-another Shodophone?

"Something wrong Umemori-san?" asked Adele as she noticed his change in expression. Genta snapped back to normal and apologized.

"Please, call me Genta," he reassured Adele cheerfully, "So your friend's phone, where did he get it?" Adele blinked and shrugged before removing her phone too. Genta did a double take as she placed her same phone on the counter of his cart.

"I don't know actually," Adele murmured as she handed it to him, "My dad and his parents gave us the same phone but said that they had this from their parents. So its probably an old model I guess? Anyways its still good for a phone used by our parents. The battery life can go for a long time still. Strange huh?" Genta nodded feebly as he took the phone in his hands and began studying it carefully. It was indeed the same make and model of the ShodoPhone that Take-chan and his vassals used to become the Shinkengers. No denying it. But these two probably didn't know that their phones could become calligraphy phones that would transform them into...Shinkengers? He smiled brightly at her before giving her the phone back and studying Caden as he talked angrily into his. Genta leaned on his elbows as he shot Adele a question.

"So who's your boyfriend talking to?" he asked her casually, "Must be someone bad from the looks of it."

"We're not boyfriend and girlfriend," Adele slowly replied with a touch of amusement in her voice, "We've known each other since kindergarten. He's talking to his girlfriend Kari Xie." Genta blinked at her and gave her a confused look.

"They started dating in high school," sighed Adele as she began telling the details, "She's always been rude to me and treats me like dirt. I'm guessing that she found out that Caden's travel course trip for Japanese Cultures and History turned into a free-for-all trip and is angry that he's not turning right around to catch an immediate return flight to see her." Genta winced and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.

"That's rather selfish of her," Genta spoke up, "Why does he stay with her?" Adele shrugged her shoulders.

"Search me," she sighed irritably, "He finds something about her that is amazing. I think she's tragically hopeless future-wise. We've both decided on our majors in college already and here she is, a second year college student who is still Undeclared! Go figure." She moved her eyes away from the cart and allowed them to drift. They fell upon a group walking toward the cart and her throat tightened. It was exactly like her dream. Except for the guy in gold every form she saw in certain colors walked alongside the middle figure who was tall, dressed in red, and looked exactly like the figure from her dream.

...

Takeru had been laughing at something that was said when his eyes drifted over to a girl seated at Genta's cart who had been staring at him. All of a sudden, he felt a jolt run through his body. Who was she? He had been seeing a pair dressed in black and white in his dreams but only the figure in black had been clear. It was a girl, strangely a girl who looked just like this one staring at him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: And Then He Spilled Soy Sauce on Us

"Hey Take-chan!" Genta's loud voice broke into Takeru's trance, "Come eat! I have more stools!" Takeru snapped out of his daze and walked over to Genta's cart. Everyone else had already made their way over to Genta while he had been standing completely dumbstruck. Kotoha seemed to be the only who had noticed as she gave Takeru a concerned expression with large, doe-like eyes. He lost his puzzled expression and briefly smiled as he took a seat next to her and folded his hands in front of him. Genta placed a tray of his specialties in front of him and Takeru picked up his chopsticks to start eating.

"So guys," began Genta brightly, "This here is Adele Tsubasa and that guy over there is her friend Caden Masaharu. They're visiting from the United States!" Chiaki uttered, "Yo!" through a mouthful of sushi while Ryunosuke smacked him promptly on the head for rudely talking with food in his mouth.

"Disgraceful! Completely unsophisticated Chiaki!" Ryunosuke scornfully remarked before quickly introducing himself. "I apologize for his childish behavior." Chiaki scowled at Ryunosuke and stuck his tongue out at his back before rubbing the sore spot on his head. Kotoha cheerfully waved at Adele and attempted to wave at Caden but his back was turned. Takeru nodded faintly at Adele as she pierced him with her sharp, dark eyes before bowing her head politely. Mako merely bowed her head and smiled politely at Adele. As she picked up a piece of sushi to enjoy, she saw something that caught her eye. Adele had stood up from her stool and dusted herself off and Mako noticed what looked like...

"An origami?" she utterly quietly in surprise as she stared at the object hanging from Adele's belt loop. It was a diamond shape that was completely white with a gray border and the character 'Yang' in the center in black. Mako's eyes drifted from Adele leaving her seat to Caden storming over and she nearly gasped, seeing that he too, had an origami hanging from his belt loop. However, his was trapezoidal that was all black with gray trim and the character 'Yin' in the center in white.

Caden sat down in a huff and began eating silently but furiously. The entire group stared at him in surprise and Adele spoke up.

"What did Kari say this time?" Adele cautiously asked. Caden swallowed the mouthful he was eating and took a deep breath.

"Sandy, that ditz girl from our travel class, told some of her friends back home via FaceBook that her travel course turned into a free activity trip," Caden began, "Apparently Kari saw that status update and she blew a fuse when that news was broadcasted. So she decided to call back and ask whether I was planning on telling her or not. Then she started yelling at me for wanting to enjoy this trip that I spent my hard-earned money on instead of coming home today! Geez!" Everyone blinked at him in surprise and Takeru gave him a puzzled look. FaceBook? Status update? What was he talking about? These were terms he had never heard of in his entire life.

"That is terrible," Genta agreed carefully as he offered Caden some more rice, "But to change the subject, how is the food?" Caden opened his mouth to reply when Ryunosuke cut him off.

"Plain as usual," he snorted dryly, "Mako, could you please pass the soy sauce?" Mako picked up the bottle and it was promptly taken from her hands by Genta, who looked quite steamed.

"Plain! Plain! Is that all you can say?" roared Genta angrily as he held the soy sauce away from Ryunosuke, "I've gone overseas and people in Paris and tourists from America loved it! They said it was flavorful and good in terms of texture. But never plain!"

"Oh please," snorted Ryunosuke as he lunged for the bottle, "They were probably saying that so your feelings wouldn't be hurt. Besides there's nothing there to compare it to!"

"Well actually, its good," Caden feebly offered Genta as he watched the storm brew, "Adele and I go to this local sushi joint in our home town of La Jolla and its mediocre. But then again everything there is, like, $5 per roll type. This is better than that place for sure."

Genta smiled smugly at Ryunosuke as they struggled with the bottle. "See!" he remarked loudly as he gestured to Caden, "He thinks its delicious! And Kotoha has always liked it! So you're alone when you say it is plain!"

Ryunosuke tugged the bottle toward him as he yelled, "But that's because you're putting pressure on him to probably say that about your sushi! How do you not know he's just saying that to make it better?" Takeru grimaced and backed his stool away from the cart as the two fought over the soy sauce bottle. This was bound to turn into a disaster. Ryunosuke yanked the bottle from Genta and it sailed out of his hands. The loose cap popped off and up as the contents splashed onto Adele and Caden. The bottle landed back on Genta's cart and broke into several little pieces.

Ryunosuke looked over at the two in horror at his mistake and fell to his knees. The rest of the group let out gasps at the sight of the two strangers soaked in soy sauce.

"Forgive me!" he pleaded the pair, "I am so incredibly reckless and stupid! I do not even deserve to be standing here next to a kind pair of visitors like you! I..." He continued on his tirade of self-insults while beating the ground as Adele and Caden watched him in confusion and slight amusement. Mako had walked around the blubbering Ryunosuke and asked them if they were all right.

"We're fine but I think he's not," Adele reluctantly commented as she gestured to the crouched Ryunosuke spitting out his apologies and insults of how stupid and careless he was. Takeru stood up and walked over to the pair.

"I apologize for his behavior," he told them as he looked at Adele specifically, "That's how he normally acts. We can help you two clean up, my family's house is not too far away from here."

"That's kind of you to offer but we don't want to be a burden," Adele told him, "We just need to find a laundromat to wash everything and-"

"Hey! Just leave that to the kuroko!" Chiaki casually remarked as he began steering Adele in the direction of the Shiba household. Genta followed in suit as he pushed Caden in that direction, ignoring the duo's protests that they didn't want to bother the group. Kotoha walked alongside them, reassuring them that it was no big deal and Mako bid an overly dramatic Ryunosuke good bye.

"When you're done doing that, you can meet us back at the Shiba household," she called over her shoulder. She shook her head at his stupidity and sighed. Typical Ryunosuke behavior, only he was acting that way toward a pair of American tourists.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Brief Lesson on Eating Sandwiches

Jii raised an eyebrow as Genta and Chiaki pushed Adele and Caden toward the bathroom to change into clean clothes. Mako guided Jii to the meeting room while the rest of the Shinkengers joined her and took their places. Genta strode into the room and announced that the kuroko were taking care of the two and Chiaki thanked a group that walked past him carrying clean garments for the strangers to wear.

"What was that about?" Jii asked the group as he folded his arms across his chest. Takeru glanced over at Genta, then over at Ryunosuke before looking back at Jii. Jii shook his head at the two of them disaprovingly and Ryunosuke lowered his head to the floor.

"Tono! I embarrassed not only myself, but everyone else here! Please, forgive me!" he wailed miserably as he eyed the floor with shame. Genta bit back his lip to hold in his laughter since the sight of Ryunosuke acting like this was classic. Takeru waved away the incident and Ryunosuke rose up to his normal sitting position.

"I saw their current state of dress when they came in," sighed Jii, "They got in the middle of one of your arguments eh? Well that will take the kuroko some time to get the stains out of their garments. Who are they?"

"I think that's something we need to you answer Hikoma-san," Mako softly began. Everyone turned to stare at her and she folded her hands in her lap.

"They both had origamis hanging from their belts," she announced to the group, "I saw them when we were eating. Hers had the kanji for 'yang' and his said 'yin' on it."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you!" Genta blurted out, "Both of them have the same Shodophones as you guys do! I asked Adele about it and she said that hers came from her grandmother and Caden's from his grandfather!" Takeru blinked in shock and Chiaki dropped his jaw before snorting that Genta must have been mistaken.

Genta shook his head no and described the make and model of the phones that both of the visitors had. Sure enough Takeru confirmed that they indeed had to be Shodophones. Genta turned to face Jii and asked him, "Jii, were there ever any vassal clans by the last names of Tsubasa and Masaharu?" Jii wrinkled his brow and thought about it.

"It's interesting that you mentioned that," he noted thoughtfully, "I was going through the library today and came across the clan records for the lost Tsubasa and Masaharu clans."

"Really? Lost?" Chiaki confusedly asked, "Why?"

"They were directly targeted by Doukoku the generation prior to your parents' service," Jii recalled, "Because their clans honed the skills of the yin-yang concept, they were a strong pair to fight against. Truly, they were living proof that good cannot exist without bad. It was said that they accidentally developed a powerful seal that combined their Mojikara together that was capable of destroying the heart of the Sanzu River." The group gasped in shock and Takeru was stunned to hear this news. How could he, a devout samurai, have possibly missed that branch of the clan's time where two vassal clans were wiped from existence?

"Doukoku attacked both clan households one night and rendered the then current ShinkenBlack and ShinkenWhite useless," Jii continued grimly, "It was thought that they were dead since the bodies were never found by the rest of the Shinkengers after they came to help. Years passed and there was never any news of future Tsubasa or Masaharu vassals that would serve our lord. Then, they were written off as deceased and inactive."

Genta, who had been silent up to this point, spoke up, "Hey hey! But they must have survived! Because those two possess the origamis and Shodophones that a Shinkenger would use and carry with them! Where else would those two get a hold of those items?" The group shrugged and saw that Genta had a point. But why had their parents not stepped forward to serve their lord? Better yet, why were they now in the United States? The group was interrupted by the kuroko shuffling into the room and whispering something into Jii's ear. He jumped up in surprise and did a double take.

"Really? Why do they think that they need to do that?" he asked the kuroko in shock. The Shinkengers looked at him with identical puzzled looks on their faces and Jii explained why he was so surprised and a bit scared: the two strangers were cooking a thank you meal for them.

"Uh-oh," muttered Chiaki as he began doing sit-ups. He was not in the mood for bad cooking like Mako's. He seriously wanted a break from the bad dinners he was forced to eat last week, thanks to Mako trying out new recipes on the group. Ryunosuke followed in suit with the sit-ups while Mako smiled and commented how kind they were.

"Oh I cannot wait!" Kotoha cried out happily as she clasped her hands together, "They are so nice for Americans! I wonder what they will make..." Takeru tried not to grimace as he nervously pondered the worst scenario about this meal. Mako's relish from the first dinner was bad news since he had keeled over from panic shutdown. He was hoping that perhaps the kuroko would intervene and make things right. Genta stuck his head out of the room to see the kuroko, Adele, and Caden carrying trays filled with fresh, hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Chiaki closed his eyes and smelled the air. It was homey and promising but he told himself not to get his hopes up too high. The kuroko gave the group the thumbs up, meaning that stomach medication was not needed. Still Takeru swallowed hard as Adele set down a tray with a warm, grilled cheese sandwich next to a bowl of tomato pepper soup in front of him. Jii smiled politely as he accepted a tray from Adele and studied the sight in front of him.

The food looked delicious and not like Hell a la Mako's cooking. Jii cleared his throat and asked the two visitors, "Thank you for this meal. But why did you go to the trouble to make this for us?"

"Oh it was no trouble at all sir," Caden politely told him, "We wanted to thank you and your household for the gracious hospitality you gave us. I made the soup-its a tomato and spicy pepper soup with a touch of carrot."

"I made the sandwiches," Adele quickly told them as she waved her hand for the item, "They're just plain old grilled cheese sandwiches. Sorry, sandwiches are the only thing I'm good at making. He's the pro cook of our pair." Genta wasted no time taking a bite of his sandwich and a slurp of soup. The entire room was quietly staring at him, waiting for the verdict.

"I love this!" he shouted joyfully, "This soup is an excellent balance of flavors! And Adele, this is not plain-how can you say that?" He chomped off a larger bite with gusto and Chiaki bit into his sandwich. The rich flavors of 2 or was it 3? cheeses melted in his mouth. The soup gave a slight hot rush to his tongue but it was delicious all the same.

"Oh hey! This is great," Chiaki mentioned cheerfully as he continued to eat. Ryunosuke, Mako, Kotoha, and Jii began eating and big smiles came across their faces.

"So gooood!" sang Ryunosuke as he filled his spoon with more soup.

"I fail," sighed Mako as she swallowed her first tastes, "I need to hang around the kitchen with both of you and take a cooking lesson or two."

"Wow! This is a great soup! And this sandwich is very tasty!" Kotoha chirped as she took another bite of the sandwich. Jii looked pleasantly surprised and praised the two for their phenomenal cooking skills.

"I need to get the recipe for this soup," he told Caden happily as he drank more. The only person who hadn't touched his food at all was Takeru. He stared puzzled at the sandwich, unsure of how to eat it. They had not provided him with chopsticks to eat this meal but only a spoon for the soup. Ryunosuke looked up from finishing his soup and spoke up.

"Tono-sama," he nervously began, "You've not eaten! Is something wrong?" Jii tried not to laugh as he announced an embarrassing secret about his lord: Takeru had never tried a sandwich until now. The group looked at him in surprise and Adele did a double take. She strode over to him and knelt before him.

"Well, better late than never," she sighed as she lifted his hands and placed them around the sandwich. Takeru flushed slightly as everyone was watching him as he raised the sandwich from the plate. He studied his hands and saw that they looked like everyone else's who had been eating. Then Adele stopped him.

"Stop! Stop!" she ordered him frantically as she placed his pinkies down onto the sandwich, "No pinkies, this isn't England's high tea with Her Royal Highness." Chiaki sniggered at the sight since Takeru's eyes were lowered and his face was deeply flushed. He had probably never been ordered around like this before in his life, especially by a pretty girl.

Takeru raised the sandwich to his lips and took a bite. He closed his eyes and was surprised to find that the blend of cheeses was actually delicious. Crispy, gooey in a good way, and slightly salty but not too salty. He tasted the soup and found that the combination of tomato with pepper and small hint of carrot was flavorful and spicy. He opened his eyes to meet those of the concerned, eager vassals waiting to hear his approval.

"Wow," he uttered in amazement, "This is incredible. I wouldn't say that your sandwich is plain Adele." Adele smiled brightly at his words and bowed her head politely.

"Well then, I'll some day introduce you to the art of sandwich making!" she jokingly offered, "From the simple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches of an American child's youth to the grilled panini-style borrowed from Italy, I know it all."

Takeru couldn't help but smile at her words. "Well then show me," he replied lightly.

"Hey I was kidding, you know that?" Adele replied, a bit taken back, "But I can teach you if you want. Anyone else can learn too." Mako nodded and Kotoha chimed in mentioning that she wanted to learn too. The joyful moment was broken by the sound of Caden's phone going off.

"Sorry about this everyone," he mumbled embarrassedly as he opened up the phone, "Hello? What is it now? I am trying to enjoy my vacation Kari! Sheesh!" Jii's eyes darted to the phone and Takeru nodded. It was indeed a Shodophone. These two probably had no idea that their families used to serve as Shinkengers to his clan. Come to think of it, they probably did not know that the Shodophone had a second form. He glanced over at Adele who was rolling her eyes at Caden's turned form.

"This happens a lot?" he asked her quietly with concern.

"Well, a lot since we got here," sighed Adele, "We were actually traveling with a travel course through our university back home but the course was cancelled because the professor became very ill. The class has turned into a fun trip for whatever tickles our fancy here. She's not too happy that Caden's staying the full time instead of rushing home to be with her." Caden began walking out of the household and Adele stood up and dusted herself off.

"Thank you everyone for your hospitality," she told the group in an upbeat voice, "We need to get going apparently."

"Your clothes are not dry yet," Jii remarked as he stood up, "Are you sure that you cannot wait?" Adele shook her head no and bowed her head in apology.

"He's terrible with directions so I have to help re-find our hotel," she replied with some hesitation in her voice, "But thank you again. Maybe we'll see each other very soon?"

The group agreed and everyone bade her good-bye. Takeru decided excuse himself and sit privately in his side room. Ryunosuke began to protest but Jii gave him a warning stare and Ryunosuke fell silent.

She was indeed the girl from his dream. There was no doubt about it. But every part of him wanted to know why she knew nothing about the traditions or foundations of what a life of a Shinkenger was. She seemed to hide behind her polite manners and positive outlook and he swore that he saw darkness in her eyes. Caden, he barely knew since the young man had exerted little of his personality aside from arguing on the phone with a shallow soul and treating his elders with respect. He realized that it all boiled down to one simple question: who were Adele Tsubasa and Caden Masaharu?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Destiny is Calling

The sound of the alarm going off made Takeru snap back to reality and abruptly rejoin the rest of the group in the meeting room. Jii studied the stick and reported the area as the kuroko unrolled the map of areas. Takeru began to run out of the room and the rest of the group except for Genta followed.

"Hey, hey guys!" Genta cried out all of a sudden, "What about the other two?" Everyone briefly paused and turned to look at Genta.

"We don't have time," Ryunosuke sharply remarked, "Besides, this isn't the time to teach them how to fight. We need to protect the people and the city first!" Genta sagged his shoulders and trudged after the rest of the group. He certainly hoped that Ryunosuke was right.

Minutes after they took off, a kuroko walked over to Jii with Caden and Adele's clean garments, neatly folded in a bundle. Another one handed him a slip of paper which contained their hotel's address. Jii thanked them before gathering up the clothes, directions, and the family lineage books on the Masaharu and Tsubasa clans. He heaved a deep sigh as he rose to his feet and began reading the directions.

...

"Gedoushu! That's far enough!" yelled Takeru at the terrifying creature below them. The creature snorted irritably at the group before aiming an air based punch in their direction. The group quickly transformed and dodged the attack immediately. Genta lunged at the creature with the Sakanamaru poised but the creature vanished from sight.

"Oy! Where did he go?" Genta worriedly asked as he stared around, frantically. Suddenly, the creature reappeared and jabbed Genta viciously, sending him flying backwards. Mako and Kotoha attempted a duo attack on him but missed as he disappeared again. Both girls tried to stay alert but the creature attacked them in its invisible state, injuring both. Takeru began preparing the Kabuto Five Rings Bullet while Ryunosuke and Chiaki fired their Shinkenmaru attacks at the creature. The Gedoushu created a gust of wind and sent the two Shinkenmaru attacks back toward the two male Shinkengers who flew back into Takeru and the weapon. Due to the heavy impact of the attacks made on the group, the Shinkengers became un-morphed as they struggled to their feet. Before they attempt to fight the Gedoushu again, the creature croaked unhappily as its body began to break.

"I will come back and destroy you all," it wearily remarked, "Fear me Shinkengers. Fear the wrath of Mienaitoppuu." Its body began to crack and quickly sunk into a crevice leading to the Sanzu River. Chiaki cursed loudly and Genta clutched his side in pain. His eyes met Ryunosuke's and asked him one thing: Was it right to ignore the possible branch of extra help?

Jii felt funny standing in the lobby of a modern-day hotel since he had become so accustomed to the old-style architecture from the olden days of Samurais. Adele walked over to him and he gave her quizzical look. She shook her head and guided him to the gardens behind the hotel.

"Kari, his girlfriend, has been on the phone with him ever since he left your household," she apologetically told him as they sat down, "She's a bit...demanding these days. How may I help you?" Jii handed her the bundle of clothes and she accepted them from him.

"You are very kind to do so much for us," she thanked him, "I take it that this isn't just a social call to drop off our garments?" Jii smiled knowingly at her and folded his hands in his lap before beginning his questions.

"Tell me," he began, "Where is your grandmother?"

"My grandmother?" Adele quizzically replied, "She lives in a retirement home and has Alzheimer's Disease. She contracted it a few years after she moved here from Japan." Jii held his breath in at her words.

"As for Caden's grandfather," she continued, "He came with my grandmother to the United States as well. Apparently he settled down, had Caden's father then went quite mad. He committed suicide and Caden's father blamed it on a traumatic incident that happened when the grandfather was younger. Caden's grandfather never spoke about his past in Japan but mentioned that he was in critical condition after a great battle and left because he disappointed someone. He didn't specify the exact details of the battle but Caden's father assumed it was just World War I." Jii nodded as he listened intently, as her details were plausible to what could have happened to the ShinkenBlack and ShinkenWhite of that time. However it certainly wasn't the war that drove ShinkenWhite to his death but a feeling of shame for letting down his lord.

"What about your mother?" he asked her hopefully.

"She's dead," Adele grimly remarked, "She had me at the hospital and lost too much blood from my birth. She was never the same after that. Around the time I was 7, she collapsed and died from a premature heart attack. I think my birth was a huge strain on her body and she never fully recovered from it. Even though I live with my dad, he had me take her maiden name to preserve her memories." Jii felt relieved since he at first grew concerned about the thought of ShinkenBlack breaking tradition by having the male's last name dominate over the Shinkenger's last name. He had a feeling that her father also knew nothing about the samurai traditions but thanked sheer luck that things were orderly. Well almost orderly.

"Genta mentioned that you and Caden said you were half-Japanese," Jii lightly commented, "What other nationalities are you two?"

"I'm half-German," Adele replied, "That came from my father. Caden is 1/4 Scottish and 1/4 English which comes from his mom. She's still alive by the way." Jii leaned back on the bench and pondered a possible way to tell her this news. It wasn't going to be easy since it could be seen as a joke. Then her remembered the lineage books he brought with him. He produced them from his robes and cleared his throat.

"I was looking through the library in the residence I live in," he started to say, "It is interesting you mentioned these stories about your grandparents since it seems very much like these." He handed her the lineage charts and she opened the scroll containing Caden's history. She skimmed it carefully and her eyes widened. She didn't say a word as she opened the next scroll which contained...her family's information.

"Before grandma contracted her illness, she mentioned a person from our family that was important in our foundations," Adele softly murmured as she read the kanji characters, "This was her name. And my grandmother's name." She rolled up both scrolls and handed them back to Jii.

"Sir," she began after a long pause, "What are you trying to tell us?"

"I'm concerned that you may not believe me," he sighed heavily, "But I need to tell you and Caden. Your families served my lord, Takeru Shiba's family centuries ago. Your grandmother and grandfather were presumed to be the last of your families' descendants after they were attacked by evil residing in a place known as the Sanzu River. Your origami and Shodophone that were given to you are part of the tools passed down to each predecessor that serves the current Shiba head. With them, you are the current ShinkenBlack and Caden is ShinkenWhite." He took a deep breath to allow his words to sink in before studying her face. She studied the origami clipped to her belt and stared intently at it.

"I always thought that there was something unique about this," she noted, "Every time I went somewhere, I swear I could always hear the sound of a falcon's cry. But the funny thing is, no one else ever heard it too." Jii stretched out his hand and Adele placed the origami in his hand. He prodded at it curiously and it snapped back at him, transforming into a tiny, black falcon. Adele did a double take as the falcon swooped back into her hands and cried out to her. She glanced up at Jii and closed up the origami quickly.

"So I'm guessing that this..." she began as she removed her phone from her pocket. Jii took it from her and flicked it outward to produce the tip of the brush from the end. Adele's eyes widened as she stared down at her phone. She looked back at the character on her origami then back at Jii.

"So I take it that I would become ShinkenBlack by painting out this character on my origami?" she asked him bravely. Jii smiled lightly at her and answered yes. She swallowed hard since it seemed like so much was being thrown her way. But everything made sense. All because of one attack, her grandmother and Caden's grandfather had spiraled out of sanity and the lineage was disrupted in terms of carrying on tradition. She stood up from the bench and waved Caden over.

"Sir," she told Jii, "I can't thank you enough for clarifying our pasts. We always found it strange how nothing seemed to fit together but now everything makes sense. This may sound funny, but I have a feeling that Takeru-san is in trouble some how." Jii patted her on the back and released the breath he had been holding back until now.

"I trust your instincts," he told her, "Go on. Tono needs you and Caden."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Jumping Into the Fray

Meanwhile, a defeated group of Shinkengers had returned from defeat to realize that Jii was out. No sooner had they taken their usual spots in the meeting room were they forced to rise up and race off to the new area under attack.

Chiaki hollered as the Ayakashi hurled him several feet off the ground and against a solid concrete parking garage wall. Mako clutched at her side in pain and Ryunosuke struggled to stand but was unable to pull himself together. Genta was whirled backward by the Ayakashi and became unmorphed. Takeru attempted to trade hits with the monster but was promptly sent flying toward the pile of defeated vassals. The situation was grim and hopeless.

"Hahahah Shinkengers!" crowed Mienaitoppuu boastfully, "It was easy to defeat all of you. Now I can go forth and spread the darkness of the Sanzu River through the streets of Japan. Now to get rid of you pests for good."

"You forgot two of us," yelled a girl's voice from behind him. Mienaitoppuu looked up and the Shinkengers raised their heads to see Adele and Caden running toward them. Both of them had switched their Shodophones to the transformation mode.

"Ippitsu Shojo!" both yelled as they began painting the strokes for their respective characters of Yin and Yang. The characters wrapped around the running figures and changed their civilian clothes into the uniforms of ShinkenBlack and ShinkenWhite.

"Impossible!" stammered Mienaitoppuu, "There was never anything mentioned about other Shinkengers!"

"Well you better believe it," Caden confidently remarked as he drew his katana from its sheath, "ShinkenWhite, Masaharu Caden!"

"ShinkenBlack, Tsubasa Adele!" echoed Adele as she drew her own katana. Mienaitoppuu staggered back and summoned the Nanashi Renjuu forth. Takeru rose to his feet and his vassals followed suit. They couldn't help but watch the newcomers face off against the foot soldiers with ease. Caden rammed his katana through approaching Nanashi while Adele made quick, smooth slashes across every soldier that came close. Takeru looked back at his vassals and nodded at them. They removed their Shodophones and re-morphed, quickly fending off the Nanashi Renjuu appearing before them.

Adele's hand ran around the handle of the katana and summoned her personal weapon. Mako who was fighting nearby threw off a group of Nanashi Renjuu and stopped to view the sight. Adele's katana had become a shuriken yo-yo and the new Shinkenger briskly removed her personal black disk to use.

"Yang Yo-Yo!" she called out as the weapon changed its form. She flicked the yo-yo far away from her and allowed it to hit several approaching Nanashi Renjuu before returning to her. She threw it outward again, only this time to wrap tightly around another group of Nanashi Renjuu and strike them as it released them from its grip quickly.

Caden had seen Adele's katana transform out of the corner of his eye and he followed suit. The long sharp sword transformed into a crossbow loaded with 3 arrows.

"Yin Crossbow!" he called out as the katana changed. He picked up the crossbow and carefully aimed it at a group of Nanashi Renjuu near him. The arrows speared their target and destroyed them immediately. Meanwhile, Takeru had attempted to face the Ayakashi on his own but was struggling to keep up. Adele launched a well aimed throw with her Yang Yo-Yo at the Ayakashi which forced him to stagger back. Then Takeru got an idea.

"Adele!" he called to her as he removed his Shodophone, "Let's try to combine Mojikara." She nodded as she removed her Shodophone and began writing out the kanji for 'chaos.' Takeru quickly brushed out 'fire' and sent his character toward Adele's. She pushed her kanji toward his and it combined to create the kanji for 'hell fire.' The kanji character transformed its appearance into a purple rush of fire right at the Ayakashi who staggered back before collapsing completely. First life down.

"Hey, hey you guys!" Genta congratulated them, "That was very good for your first try out here."

"Don't celebrate yet Genta," warned Ryunosuke as the second life kicked in. He pulled out his origami and the others followed suit. He placed it down on the ground and wrote out the kanji for 'big.' Adele and Caden joined him and the others and were amazed as their origami grew larger and they were transported inside.

"Damn," murmured Caden as he studied the inside of his origami, "It's like Power Rangers only better man."

"Hahaha no kidding Caden," Adele replied from the inside of her falcon origami. Takeru then combined the origami together and Adele and Caden were transported inside the large Shinken-Oh.

"This is pretty amazing gang," commented Adele as she joined the group inside the large origami combination. Caden studied the podium in front of him and Chiaki prompted both of them to use the controls in front of them to help steer the large formation.

"Concentrate everyone!" ordered Takeru as the large Shinken-Oh staggered forward toward the Ayakashi before them. Mienaitoppuu suddenly vanished from sight and the entire group of Shinkengers began panicking.

"Oy! Where are you?" demanded Chiaki as he moved his head around to look for the missing Ayakashi. In one swift movement the Ayakashi hurled a forceful gust of wind at Shinken-Oh sending the Shinkengers nearly tumbling over each other in the control panel. Genta withdrew his weapon and offered his idea of using Ika-chan to reveal the invisible gustblower. Takeru agreed and Genta transported himself inside the detached Ika Origami. He sent a spray of black ink at the Ayakashi who groaned and fell back completely disoriented. Takeru saw his chance and quickly withdrew his katana to perform the final attack. Adele and Caden joined in as the rest of the group raised their katanas and slashed the air in front of them to command Shinken-Oh to strike Mienaitoppuu.

"Curse you Shinkengers!" he bellowed as he cracked into several pieces. Chiaki punched in the air in celebration and Genta made a brief announcement from the Ika Origami.

"And now, clap of victory!" he cheerfully announced as he raised his hands poised, "Adele and Caden, just follow Take-chan and everyone else." Both Adele and Caden watched and mimicked Takeru as he held his hands apart before clapping them once together.

"This brings this chapter to a close," he uttered solemnly.

...

"Damn those Shinkengers," mumbled Shitari to himself on the lonely boat. He paced the deck anxiously and felt very much alone. Doukoku had been destroyed for good and Dayu was long gone after giving up her human flesh to save Doukoku before he fell again. He studied his information books and became engrossed in a passage. The sound of a figure boarding the junk boat startled him and he whipped around cautiously.

"I can see you have a little pest control problem with those Shinkengers," uttered a female's voice as she approached him, "Well, I might just be able to help you fix that."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: She Was Not That Person

After one successful victory, Takeru-san had been kind to allow Caden and Adele bunk at his family's house until they had to return home to La Jolla, California. At first the duo had rejected the offer and came back to the hotel to discover that Chiaki and Genta had summoned the kuroko to gather the new Shinkengers' belongings and had told the desk clerk that Caden and Adele had checked out of their separate rooms. Go figure.

When they had gotten back to Takeru's house, the kuroko had showed them where their belongings and new rooms were. Both had admired their new rooms before joining the rest of the team in the central room.

"So Chiaki, Genta," began Caden as he settled onto his cushion, "According to the desk clerks, you guys were pretty busy in our rooms." Genta drummed his fingers on his knee and pretended to look innocent while Chiaki yawned in a bored fashion.

"C'mon you two," sighed Chiaki as he leaned back, "We're all nice people, we don't bite. Well maybe Ryunosuke and Jii-san when angry but we're all cool. And its free compared to the hotel costs." At that moment Chiaki sprung to his feet as Ryunosuke and Jii-san rose to their feet and chased after him for throwing the inaccurate comments out into the open. Takeru shook his head at this ridiculous scene of ring around the rosy and muttered that Chiaki had a lot of nerve. Kotoha studied the group and spoke up after being silent for so long.

"So if yin and yang represent opposites," she offered, "Why is it that Adele has yang and Caden yin?"

Adele opened the clan records and read them aloud, "Well according to the records, the original ShinkenBlack was male and ShinkenWhite was female. It stayed this way until our great-grandparents generation. The records state that when my great-grandmother was born and Caden's great-grandfather, the Tsubasa clan produced a female heir and the Masaharu, a male. This pattern continued until we came along." Mako nodded her head showing that she understood. She found it slightly amusing that Caden seemed more reserved while Adele seemed to be more assertive.

Adele settled into her new room and logged onto her LiveJournal account via her laptop. She removed the memory card from her camera and inserted it into the slot on her laptop. She smiled as she thought about yesterday's photos and exchanges. Kotoha had been playing her flute when Adele had taken her picture. The light from the flash made her eyes shoot open after the picture had been taken and she apologized for not noticing Adele taking her picture. She had offered to retake the image with her eyes open but Adele had already reassured that she got the perfect image of Kotoha. Chiaki had been eating oden with gusto and had cocked his head sideways when prompted for a photo. He then proceeded to offer Adele a bite which she politely rejected as she strode over to Ryunosuke. When Adele had raised her camera to her eye, Ryunosuke struck a theatrical pose all of a sudden. She smiled slightly and tried to not laugh since it looked so funny to see Ryunosuke acting in his element. Chiaki had snickered at the sight of Ryunosuke and mumbled through a mouthful of steamed meat bun that Ryunosuke was an attention hog. Ryunosuke had then proceeded to chase down Chiaki for insulting him and Adele quickly snapped a picture of the feuding pair. This would make for a funny image indeed for the memory book. Caden had been in the kitchen with Mako, trying to teach her how to make a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mako had taken a large bite of the sandwich when Adele surprised her by taking her picture. Caden tried not to laugh at Mako's surprised reaction to Adele's sneak attack photo but it was nearly impossible.

"How's the sandwich?" asked Adele as she moved the camera away from her face. Mako smiled brightly and nodded that she liked it.

"Nutty and sweet," she commented brightly, "A bit sticky but its still good. Maybe I'll make these for the kindergarden kids when I go back to work." Caden took a bite of Mako's other sandwich half and nodded that it was edible and normal like it should have been. He had been already warned by Chiaki and Ryunosuke to brace himself for Mako's mess-ups so he decided to start with something that was nearly impossible to mess up. He crossed his eyes and stuck a peanut butter-coated tongue out sideways as Adele snapped his photo.

"Couldn't you have taken a nicer photo?" Mako asked Caden unhappily as she turned to watch him pose, "Really! I mean..." Adele took this as a moment to excuse herself from the room and went in search of Genta. He was pulling up to the front walkway of the Shiba household with his sushi cart dragging behind him. Just Adele raised her camera to her eye, Genta placed the cart down carefully and struck a proud pose next to the cart. DaiGoyu sprung to life and fussed saying that he wasn't ready for the close up. Genta waved away the complaint to Adele who looked at DaiGoyou with amazement. DaiGoyou became upset and swung into Genta's arm forcefully, complaining about his master's uncaring answer. Genta howled in pain and this started a shouting match with DaiGoyou. Adele cringed and quickly approached the strange lantern robot, apologizing genuinely in Japanese.

"Well use that camera!" DaiGoyou ordered her lightly, "Take your best shot of me!" Adele flushed as she snapped a quick image of the persistent robot lantern and showed it to him.

"Well, I look good!" DaiGoyou gloated happily. Genta rolled his eyes skyward but it was too late, DaiGoyou had already seen him. He swung into Genta again, starting the argument once more. Adele backed away as the two quarreled and slipped back into the house. She spotted Jii sitting adjacent to Takeru and politely asked to take his picture. Jii sat up straighter and allowed a friendly smile to come across his face. Takeru watched in amazement and confusion. What was that thing in her hands. And what was she talking about when she mentioned taking a picture?

Jii snorted at the sight of his lord looking at Adele with clouded confusion. He had never seen a modern camera in his life. Heck, he had never taken a Photography class or lesson ever. Adele had approached Takeru with her camera and he shifted uneasily in his seat.

"Tono-sama," she politely began, "I'm taking pictures of my new friends I've met while here in Japan. May I take your picture?" He nodded faintly and crossed his arms behind his chest and stared down the camera. Jii shook his head at his lord and commented that right now, he looked positively unattractive.

"I think this is not a good look for you right now Tono," he lightly scolded Takeru, "You look tense and too harsh." Takeru swallowed hard as he tried to smile and uncrossed his arms. But his smile looked pinched and forced.

"I don't think that telling him how to look is going to work," Adele told Jii kindly, "I'd rather have him just look natural while taking the picture instead of staged or forced." Takeru sat up straighter and allowed the harsh line of his mouth to soften slightly at the corners.

"Much better," murmured Adele as she took the picture of him. She gave him a wide smile before bowing her head and excusing herself to return to her room. Takeru had flushed a deep shade of red as she left and Jii found himself laughing heartily at the expression on his lord's face. His lord had never been this close to such an assertive girl ever in his life. He was capable of handling difficult, grueling training or mastering complicated Mojikara combinations. Maintaining his cool around someone like Adele, he was a nervous wreck.

Now as she studied the photos on her computer, she began arranging them into a journal post for her LiveJournal blog. She placed Caden first, the Mako behind him, and Chiaki right after her. Ryunosuke came next with Genta and DaiGoyou after his dramatic pose. Then Kotoha with her soft, deeply concentrated expression, Jii with his smile, and Takeru with his soften expression as he sat upon his usual spot higher up than the others in the central room. She smiled at her placement and typed out the descriptions to her viewers.

Hey all! I have arrived in the lovely land of the Rising Sun...Japan. Our class was cancelled.

:( But no worries gang, I've managed to make some fun out of everything going on here.

Caden, being, well...Caden. He was trying to help our new friend...Mako here how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She's never had one before and now she's hooked!

Ah Chiaki, relaxing and eating. He tends to keep it real rather than act all uptight and dead-pan serious.

Ryunosuke...the theatric! Yeah this one was sort of a shock to me since he's so serious and rule abiding like no other. Apparently, he and Chiaki are complete polar opposites when it comes to fun and jokes.

Oh Genta! He owns Gold Sushi, a portable sushi cart and he's well-travelled too. His funky lantern friend DaiGoyou talks! Sometimes they don't get along so well...oops.

Kotoha is the nice gal of our bunch. She's really good at flute too. :) Makes me wish that I was musically talented. .

And we can't forget Hikoma-san. Everyone just calls him Jii. He's Takeru's protector and sort of his family I think.

Here is Takeru. It took 3 tries to get him to look natural. I guess seeing a digital camera is something new for him. Eating a Western favorite sandwich was another one too. ^^

Aside from that, everything is same old, same old. I'll post more when I have time. Laters!

She looked over her words and clicked Post. No sooner than she had hit that button when the alarm went off immediately. She sprang to her feet and ran into the central room as Jii read off the area under attack. Takeru lead the crew and it felt like a blur running to the scene.

Chiaki snorted casually at the scene as bunches of Nanashi Renjuu ran toward. "This is cake," he sighed as he summoned his katana and began slashing at a group of them approaching him. All of a sudden, something darted behind him and hit him hard in the back.

"Ouch!" whimpered Chiaki as he fell to his feet. Ryunosuke stepped forward to strike at the Nanashi Renjuu but felt the strange presence that knocked Chiaki over hit him roughly in the chest. He staggered and fell onto his behind. Takeru cautiously stabbed a group of Nanashi Renjuu and tried to read the aura that was nearby. He could sense jealousy and hatred in this Gedoushuu, powerful amounts of it. He froze as he sensed the aura behind him and he quickly struck, surprised to see that his sword attack had been blocked by a hideous Ayakashi covered in scales and snakes protruding from around its neck. The Ayakashi threw Takeru back toward the fallen Chiaki and Ryunosuke and he gritted his teeth. He nodded at everyone who removed their Shodophones and raised them, poised to transform. Caden had begun to brush out the first two strokes of his character when the Ayakashi froze and became shrouded in a bright beam of green light. Everyone shielded their eyes and Caden was surprised to see the last person he ever expected to see here.

"Kari?" he shakily called out as the smoke cleared, revealing a scowling, petite Asian girl dressed in form-fitting clothes. Her scowl lightened to a cruel smile and he put his Shodophone down. It couldn't be true, no this must have been a horrible joke or dream. His girlfriend, working for the sick creatures of the Sanzu River. Chiaki dropped his jaw in confusion and Ryunosuke stiffened his shoulders as this girl smiled coldly at the group. Genta's face clouded in concern and seriousness came across his face. Adele stepped forward and confronted the dreaded figure standing before them.

"What brings you here?" Adele flatly asked her as she locked eyes with the spoiled brat, "Thought you were too broke to even get a round trip ticket."

"Ha funny Miss Tag Along," sneered Kari as she crossed her arms across her chest, "I got a free ride thanks to the Sanzu River." The entire group gasped in shock and Mako shivered at the sight of this young girl. She was very young, too young to even think of selling her soul to a dreadful place like the Sanzu. Takeru's worst fears were correct: this girl, Caden's selfish girlfriend, was none other than a Gedou, or heretic. Like Juzo, she had sold her soul to the Sanzu River in exchange for a sort of immortal life.

"I always knew that there was something about you that I never liked about you," Adele coldly retorted to the evil, smiling girl standing before them, "Besides that hipster nose ring of yours and evil sneer." Kari broke into a cold, evil laughter as she reverted back to her snake-like Gedou form.

"Well I'm so sad to hear that," she answered icily as a snake around her neck shot toward the group all of a sudden.

"Shodophones!" called Takeru quickly as he raised his, "Ippitsu Shojo!" He quickly brushed out the kanji for fire and ran toward the Gedou standing feet away from him. The rest of the group followed in suit and charged straight for the monster in front of them. All except Caden. He was dumbfounded and in much shock from the overload of information just hurled at him. Kari was a heretic. He had been dating an evil, selfish being who wasn't really alive on moral terms. And she was capable of turning into a Medusa clone. How could he have missed this? Genta raised Sakanamaru and struck at one of the snakes before diving out of the way of 2 more lunging at him. He noticed Caden standing there, empty and crestfallen. Almost like he was dead or in shock.

"Hey, hey!" Genta called to Caden loudly, "What are you doing? Aren't you going to fight?" Caden seemed to have not heard him as he stared soullessly in front of him, life sucked from his dark eyes. They were heavy and dull. But Genta had no time to shake Caden to his senses as Takeru pulled the group away for a group Shinkenmaru attack. Before the group could prepare it, Kari's snakes from around her neck launched themselves at the entire group. The girls dodged and a snake wrapped itself around Takeru's neck. 2 others grabbed at Chiaki and Ryunosuke and wrapped themselves tightly around their bodies. Takeru, nearly choking threw the Inromaru to Adele who was standing closest to him.

"Just press the button at the top," Mako instructed Adele as she held the Inromaru in her hand, "Then attach it to your katana."

"Got it," nodded Adele as she pressed the button at the top of the case.

"Super Disk!" called out a voice within the device. A white vest floated up from the Inromaru and fell onto Adele's shoulders.

"Super ShinkenBlack," she called out as she attached the Inromaru to her katana. Kari growled at her and a snake lunged at Adele which was slashed by her katana. She quickly spun herself in a tight circle and cut Takeru, Chiaki, and Ryunosuke free. Takeru gulped for air and croaked a weak thank you to Adele as she helped him to his feet. She was about launch the final attack when Kari lunged at her and knocked her to her feet. Chiaki ran forward and sent his Shinkenmaru attack at Kari, forcing her to let go. Takeru quickly painted out a character for shield and swept the entire group including Caden away from the scene. He felt relieved that Chiaki had acted quickly but Adele's breathing was shallow. He frowned and soon saw that venom drops were running down her neck part of her uniform.

"She needs medical help immediately," he ordered the group as soon as they returned. He rushed her into a cot and the kuroku began running for medicine as the Shinkengers settled around her.

"Back already?" Shitari mused as Kari resurfaced onto the junk.

"This isn't over yet," she uttered as she clasped her hands together and set them on the balcony of the junk, "I'll get you next time Shinkengers."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Comes Back and Makes Me Catch Him Every Time He Falls

"You were lucky to get out of there when you did," Jii solemnly told the grim-faced group of Shinkengers minus Caden, "Otherwise, we would have lost Adele here in a matter of seconds." Takeru turned to Chiaki and thanked him for his quick action.

"Oh it was nothing," Chiaki modestly remarked, "Just doing what I needed to do for the team."

"Had it not been for you," Jii grimly remarked, "Kari might have killed Adele with her own hands right there if not just the venom." The rest of the group agreed and the kuroko quickly joined them to give Jii an update on her current status.

"She's awake!" cried Ryunosuke who was the closest to Jii as the news was reported. He sprang to his feet and the rest of the team followed. The kuroko showed the group in and Adele stared up at them, tired, relieved, but very drained.

"There was a lot of venom that entered her body," Jii commented as he joined them, "So naturally she is going to be a bit depleted in energy until she fully rests."

"How are you feeling?" Mako asked her as she knelt beside the young girl.

"Really tired," croaked Adele unhappily as she sat up slowly, "So where did Caden go?" Chiaki shook his head and mentioned that Caden had shut himself off in his room and had sat there, silent and still very much in shock.

"Did Kari paralyze him?" Jii asked since he knew very little about what was going on.

"No but she broke the news to him that she isn't all human," Adele weakly told him, "It was like someone had slapped straight across the face and left him lying there on the floor out cold."

"She's a Gedou," Takeru testily offered to Jii, "She appeared in her Gedou form and fought us like that. He seemed very surprised to learn of this news. So much so that he didn't even transform and attack."

"Well you can't blame him," Genta blurted out, "He had his heart smashed-not broken mind you. And he wasn't aware that she'd fight him and try to hurt the people he met and those he cares about."

"It was almost like she stole the life out of him," Mako gently guessed as she stared off in the distance, "That glow in his eyes that I saw earlier when he taught me how to cook...that was put out once he realized what she really was."

"That's so horrible for him," Kotoha cried out, "And he thought she loved him. Oh how mean of her!"

"I always thought something was up with her," muttered Adele, "The only question is, how would she have known about the Sanzu River? She's never been to Japan before let alone outside of the United States."

"I did some research in the library," Jii began as he leaned into the room, "It appears that aside from Juzo and Dayu, there had been another Gedou that was infamous for a while. Apparently, it was a young Chinese immigrant girl called XieXie. She grew into a lovely lady but no man would satisfy her needs so she resorted to several methods of deception to make them do her bidding. However, when they would leave for too long, she would hunt them down and kill them in carefully planned methods. Her final victim had gotten smart to what had happened before and poisoned her with snake venom before he was killed too. It is then assumed that she was offered a second life with those of the Sanzu River since she was not dead from venom yet."

Adele's eyes lit up and she put two and two together.

"Did she remain youthful looking in human form?" Adele curiously asked Jii. He nodded and she then spelled out her theory to the group.

"If XieXie was able to remain looking young when passing through the human realm as a human figure," Adele began, "Then she must have been able to slip away from Japan for some time, take on a new name and identity, and play the role of a young woman that could attend high school or college. Because Kari and Caden met in high school as sophomores, she's young and looks even more so because of her height. So playing either a sophomore to a second year college student while not physically aging works in her favor. Funny, since she claimed in sophomore year that she lived in Colorado the year before."

Jii shook his head solemnly. "I certainly would not be surprised if she had resorted to her usual methods and had quietly killed an innocent life while in Colorado," he replied slowly. The group agreed and Takeru frowned, furrowing his brows in frustration.

"What should we do if she strikes again?" asked Genta worriedly, "It's nearly impossible to get close to her without having a snake flick out at you."

"Her aura is greedy," Takeru spoke up, "And yet it exhibits a sense of sloth." The group was startled by the sound of the alarm going off and everyone began heading to the central meeting room. Jii removed the stick and no sooner than he had begun reading the area number off to the kuroko holding the regions map then did another stick spit itself out of the device. He blinked in amazement and read the other number too. The entire group was stunned since they had never had 2 attacks simultaneously before. Adele staggered into the room and listened as Jii reported the second attacked location.

"They're on the opposite sides of town!" cried out Genta as he studied the map, "We'll have to split up."

"I'll go to the first location," Adele spoke up after a long time, "I have some funny feeling that Kari's at the other end of that one."

"Not without me!" Genta blurted out as he stood by her. He looked over at Takeru who agreed to accompany the pair to the first location.

"Mako, Chiaki, Ryunosuke, and Kotoha," Takeru ordered, "You will all go to the second location."

"What about Caden, Tono-sama?" Kotoha asked him worriedly. Ryunosuke stepped forward and knelt on one knee before Takeru.

"Tono," he solemnly began, "Allow me to talk some sense into him, if you please."

Takeru stared down at his overly dramatic vassal and nodded, granting his permission. It was decided.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Then Your Voice Brings Me Back Like a Wake Up Call

Ryunosuke took a deep breath before gripping his fingers around the edge of the sliding door that closed off to Caden's room. He knew this wasn't going to be easy since love was a powerful thing, far more than what the Sanzu River boasted in terms of evil minions. Several passing kuroko gave him a thumbs-up as he opened the door and stuck his head into the room. He nervously cleared his throat and Caden broke from his trance to turn around and meet his eyes.

"May I come in?" Ryunosuke nervously asked the young man seated in the room. Caden nodded faintly and offered him a cushion to kneel on. Ryunosuke closed the door behind him and accepted the seat that was offered. He studied his fellow companion's face, filled with concern and fear. Caden nervously tapped his twitchy fingers onto his knee before focusing on Ryunosuke.

"So, where is everyone else?" Caden hollowly asked him.

"They, they went to answer two calls of attack on opposite areas of town," Ryunosuke answered slowly. Caden sighed heavily and ran a hand through his slight buzz cut.

"Man," he replied quietly, "I'm such a loser. I mean, I should be out there too, helping you guys out. And, and I left everyone hanging back there when Kari showed up to fight." He shook his head at what he had done then and Ryunosuke softened his expression.

"Well, it was a surprise to discover that," Ryunosuke carefully chose his words, "But I don't think its your fault for freezing back there. I would have probably done the same thing. You probably weren't expecting to discover that your girlfriend was going to suddenly appear in Japan as part of an evil force that wants to take over our world." Caden shook his head no and sat up straighter.

"How's Adele doing?" he asked all of a sudden, "I really was in a daze when Takeru got us out of there but I could hear that her breathing was shallow."

"She is fine," Ryunosuke reassured him, "Well, I think she should have stayed behind because she seemed a bit weak after almost dying from snake venom but she's out there fighting too. Takeru and Genta are with her and keeping an eye on her." Caden stood up abruptly at Ryunosuke's words.

"What?" he uttered breathlessly in horror, "Oh man, I am such an idiot! And I should have realized earlier how wrong Kari was for me. I can't believe that I let her walk all over Adele like that!" Ryunosuke sat and listened as Caden gathered his thoughts together and began to talk again.

"Sorry for that outburst," he apologized to Ryunosuke, "It's just, Adele has done a lot for me. I met her when we were kids in kindergarden. Everyone made fun of me because my English was poor and I was a year older than everyone else because of that. A lot of the time I didn't know how to stick up for myself and I let the other kids kick me around. She punched this troublesome kid who always stole my snacks and we both got a time out for violence in school. But as we sat there staring at the corner, she turned her head briefly at me and smiled. That's when I realized that I had just made my first, true friend." Ryunosuke couldn't help but smile since he could easily picture the rough and tumble Adele as a youngster punching some mean kid out. He even noticed that she tended to speak for Caden a lot and often was the one guiding him to where he needed to go.

Ryunosuke's Shodophone beeped all of a sudden and he fished the device out of his pocket. Caden joined him and read the text message from Chiaki that Ryunosuke had received. Just Nanashi Renjuu here-we've got it covered. Takeru needs back up at his end. Ryunosuke sucked his breath in as he began typing his reply to Chiaki. Caden slid back the door and paused at the entrance.

"Hey," he firmly but politely told Ryunosuke, "No time for that. We need to get to Adele, Genta, and Takeru now." Ryunosuke snapped his ShodoPhone shut and smiled at Caden.

He was back.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: You're Gonna See My Face When Defeat You Right Now

Just as Adele had suspected, Kari was at the other end, flinging her necklace of snakes at the unlucky passerby who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kuroko scrambled to hurry people to safety as Takeru, Genta, and Adele announced their presence.

"That's far enough, Gedou!" Takeru called bravely to Kari as she turned to face them. She let out a bitter hiss before lunging for the trio. Quickly, the trio transformed and jumped out of the path. Takeru pulled out the Inromaru and passed it Adele as Genta distracted Kari.

"You left things unfinished with her the last time," he explained as she accepted the item and activated it.

Adele carefully studied the grim scene before her and began summoning her Super attack on Kari. However, Genta was flung back and into Adele before she could make her move. Kari chose to attack Adele at that moment and Takeru quickly blocked the lunging snake with his katana. Genta was wounded and Adele was shaken since the Inromaru had become detached from her katana. Takeru attempted to hold off the beast but could feel his strength beginning to weaken.

"Leave them alone!" came a voice from behind. Kari halted her attack and turned to see Caden and Ryunosuke running toward the weakened trio. She snorted and threw Takeru off of her and toward Genta and Adele.

"So," she slowly began, "My gullible boyfriend finally dares to challenge me. And how charming! You decided to protect that pathetic girl who hung around you like a lost dog." Caden's eyes hardened as he stood in front of Adele.

"I may be gullible," he replied harshly, "But don't you dare call my best friend a lost dog. Because no one gets away with doing what you've done to her without paying the price." He removed his Shodophone and Ryunosuke followed suit.

"Ippitsu Shojo!" called out both male Shinkengers. Ryunosuke emerged from a bright glow of blue and drew his katana from its sheath.

"ShinkenBlue! Ikenami Ryunosuke!" he shouted boldly. Caden stepped forward from the white glow of light that once surrounded him and swished his katana in a sharp, swift motion.

"The same! White!" he announced, "Masaharu Caden!" He turned and offered a hand to Adele who was still on the ground near him.

"Looks like you could use a little help," he commented to her as she accepted his hand and lifted herself up.

"Gee you think?" she sarcastically replied. Caden stared back at her, slightly stunned by her tone. Then she playfully punched him on the arm as she shook her head at him.

"Welcome back Spazzoid," she congratulated him, "Good to have you back in the game." She recovered the Inromaru lying near her feet and offered it to Caden.

"She's your ex," Adele lightly remarked, "So you get the honors of giving her the good bye treatment." Ryunosuke couldn't help but smile beneath his helmet and Takeru nodded his approval. Caden nodded sharply at her words and pressed the button on the top of the case.

"Super disk!" called out the voice from the device. The white vest emerged from the case and landed on Caden's shoulders.

"Super ShinkenWhite!" he called out as he faced Kari carefully. Kari rolled her eyes at him and summoned a pack of the Nanashi Renjuu to keep the group busy.

"You get her," Adele told Caden as she spun her katana to summon her Yang Yo-Yo, "We'll deal with the goonies here." Takeru followed her lead and summoned his Rekka Daizantou while Ryunosuke clutched his Water Arrow, ready at hand. The group then split up to deal with the mass of approaching Nanashi Renjuu. Caden struck at several before reaching Kari and quickly dodged her snake heads. He found himself unable to make a single mark on her and quickly flipped away from her. Then he got an idea.

"Adele!" he called to her as she sent the last group of Nanashi Renjuu out of her way, "We need to combine Mojikara."

"My kanji is chaos," she uttered as she painted out the characters quickly.

"And mine is harmony," he replied as he finished the last stroke on his characters. He poised the Shodophone toward the center of the kanji and sent it toward Adele's set. Adele pushed hers closer to Caden's and the two sets began to combine and mesh to form a new, single character: divine light. The character exploded into a rush of hot, white light that hurled itself toward the open mouths of several poisonous snakes around Kari's neck. They whimpered and whined as they died around her neck and she flew into a rage. Now Caden was clear to attack.

He removed his personal disk of the Snowshoe Rabbit from his belt and placed inside the Inromaru on his katana. His hand spun around the handle summoning his Super Shinkenmaru attack.

"Shinkenmaru," he called out as he approached Kari, "Shin Hikari no Mai!" A blinding white light came in contact with Kari and a loud, painful moan could be heard from her collapsing form. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Caden lowered his katana. But it wasn't over yet. Caden staggered back as Kari suddenly recovered and reappeared in her Second Life form.

"She's even uglier when she's a giant," murmured Adele as she stared up at the looming creature overhead. Genta nearly laughed at her words but decided against it since Takeru stepped forward and prompted Caden to summon the Shinken-Oh immediately. Then, Chiaki, Mako, and Kotoha ran toward them.

"You got it cover-...geez!" cried out Chiaki as he stared up at the looming form of Kari leering down at them. Mako grimly surveyed the situation and questioned out loud whether the team would be able to destroy her this time.

"She is a Gedou," she reminded the group, "So I'm not sure whether we'll just simply make her retreat this time or actually destroy her for good." Everyone groaned at her words since it was true. Then Caden summoned the Origami to form the Shinken-Oh.

"What's the worst that could happen if we don't try?" asked Caden as the team met inside the large configuration, "And if all else fails, then I have a Plan B. That is, if Tono-sama will allow me and Adele to carry it out?" At those words Ryunosuke fell to his knees and uttered cries of joy.

"Such a respectful young man!" he sniffled joyfully, "Chiaki! Take an example of him! This is how you treat your lord!" Chiaki rolled his eyes at Ryunosuke and snorted at how stupid his fellow Shinkenger looked at that moment.

"Concentrate everyone!" ordered Takeru as he stood at his position, "She is headed right for us!" Ryunosuke scrambled to his feet and hurried to his position while everyone resumed their normal stances. Kari shot her snakes out from around her neck and they wrapped themselves around the arms of the Shinken-Oh.

"She's got us!" cried out Kotoha in horror, "What shall we do?"

"Oy! You ugly scaly brat!" Genta called as he shook his fist in the air, "Let go of us!" At those words, Kari's snakes flung the Shinken-Oh back near a group of tall business towers. The group tumbled to the floor as the large configuration fell to the ground.

"Now what?" demanded Chiaki impatiently. Caden looked over at Takeru, waiting for his approval. Takeru waved his hand, granting him permission and Caden withdrew his katana. Adele followed suit and both left the large configuration.

"So what exactly are you two planning?" Mako asked them confusedly.

"We're combining our personal Origamis together," Caden explained from the control panel of his Origami, "Since we are opposites, we'll see how this goes down." He brushed out the kanji for combine and Adele's falcon began transforming itself to join up with Caden's snowshoe hare. The end result was a miniature robot with the falcon's wings attached to the back. Caden and Adele positioned themselves and flew at a rapid speed into Kari, knocking her senseless onto the ground. This was their chance. Takeru raised his katana and the group remaining in the Shinken-Oh called the slash attack as Adele and Caden launched a powerful energy blast-based attack simultaneously. Kari's whimpering hiss could be heard as she wailed her curses to the Shinkengers before cracking into several pieces and crumbling into nothing.

"Minna-san," Takeru solemnly called as the group completed the clap of victory, "This brings this chapter to a close."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: It's All Right, It's Okay

"Ah victory," sighed Chiaki as he enjoyed a box of fresh sushi from Genta's cart, "It tastes wonderful." He smiled at Kotoha who was busy eating a batch of curry rice from Genta that he made from time to time. When she wasn't looking, he snuck a morsel off of her spoon and ate it.

"Hey! Chiaki!" she cried out in surprise as she caught the spiky-haired boy in the act, "You should have asked!" Chiaki shrugged as he chewed the morsel and leaned back casually in his seat. Meanwhile, Genta was observing Takeru hovering over Adele's shoulder as she typed away rapidly on a computer. He couldn't help but snicker slightly since Takeru didn't understand modern technology aside from the Shodophone.

"What is this?" Takeru asked her confusedly. He didn't know what to make of the strange device with its large screen and square buttons at the bottom portion of the device.

Adele gave him an amused expression as she looked up from logging onto the Internet. Was he serious?

"It's called a laptop computer," she told him with a touch of amusement in her voice, "It is a portable version of the personal computer. What? You haven't seen one of these, have you?" Takeru shook his head no as he sat down beside her. He pointed his finger at the screen that she pulled up and stared puzzled at it.

"This is the Internet," Adele patiently told him, "I'm right now on a social networking site called FaceBook. This is where you can keep up connections with old and new friends. See, here's my page." She pulled it up and a screen showing a professional-looking picture taken of Adele showed up on the right hand side of the screen. Several commented scrolled down in the center, many from people Takeru had never seen.

"That is a nice picture of you," he softly commented. Adele smiled slightly as she thanked him for the compliment.

"This is my photo from my Photography class that I had to take," she told him as she checked out the comments left for her on the page, "We were studying the art of self photography which is quite hard to do." Chiaki leaned back from his seat and began watching the scene.

"Hey! Adele when you have time, add me okay?" asked Chiaki through a mouthful of food, "I think Genta's got a profile too yeah?" Genta confirmed Chiaki's statement and Adele began typing in Chiaki's name to search for him in the FaceBook profile database.

"Found you Chiaki," she called out as she added him as a friend, "Then I just need to find Genta." Takeru stared at the screen and jabbed a finger at the Add as a Friend button.

"So what is this?" he asked her curiously.

"In order to interact with friends you know in real life," Adele began, "You need to find them on FaceBook and click the option to Add as a Friend. They need to accept your invitation to become friends in order for you to see their information and profile." Chiaki sniggered and decided to throw some humor into the mix. Takeru was going to get upset with him but it would certainly be a hoot to watch.

"Hey! Look up Takeru," Chiaki called out to her, "I set up a profile for Tono-sama." Adele did as she was told and Takeru blinked in surprise at Chiaki. Chiaki smiled innocently as Adele came across the page he had set up for Takeru as a partial joke.

"Uh is this it?" Adele asked as she clicked on the picture of Takeru posed like a china cat figure. Takeru leaned in and quickly became upset. Chiaki howled in laughter and Genta tried to hide his laughter at the humorous profile picture up on the fake account Chiaki had made for Takeru. Kotoha came over and brightened as she saw the funny image. Takeru meanwhile, had risen to his feet and began chasing down Chiaki to hit him.

Jii walked out at that very moment and paused to avoid the chase that his lord was having with Chiaki. Probably something not good at all since his lord rarely did such an act. He joined Adele seated at her laptop and peered over at the screen.

"I take it that this is why Tono is very unhappy with Chiaki?" he asked Adele knowingly.

"Apparently he set up a fake FaceBook account as Takeru and put this funny image up of him as his profile picture," Adele confirmed. She turned her head to see Jii trying to hold in his laughter at the sight of the picture and the numerous amount of female "friends" that had requested and had been accepted as Takeru's friends.

"My my Tono," he called out to his lord, "You are quite the ladies man online, now aren't you?" Takeru rushed back over to Adele's computer as she had brought up his friends list which consisted of all attractive, heavily made-up gyaru-style girls. Chiaki glanced over at the screen and chuckled lightly.

"Oh yeah," Chiaki remembered all of a sudden, "These girls liked your profile picture and I added them as friends." Takeru's anger burst to the surface and he resumed the chase once more.

"I guess its just another normal day here at the Shiba household," sighed Adele as she changed her status online.

Meanwhile, Caden was back in the kitchen with Mako, trying to help her improve her cooking again. She didn't mess up the peanut butter and jelly sandwich deal so now he decided to start with something a bit more complex but still, something that was impossible to mess up.

"You think they're ready?" Mako asked curiously as she watched the cookies sit in the oven. Caden checked the timer and nodded as he pulled out an oven mitt. He opened the oven door and removed the tray from the shelf inside.

"I'd give them about 7 minutes to cool before eating them," he suggested as he closed the oven door. He sighed as he removed the mitt and hoped for the best. She didn't mess up the pb&j but he hoped that he didn't make this too hard for her. Besides, who could mess up a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie?

"You all right there?" Mako asked him as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "I know it was kind of a tough situation you were in after finding out the shocking news." Caden smiled a little and nodded.

"Don't worry about it," he confirmed, "I'm going to be just fine actually. Besides, I have you all here to back me up." He drummed his fingers on the counter and thought of something that had been bugging him.

"Do you think that we actually destroyed her for good?" asked Caden all of a sudden, "I heard about Juzo from Takeru but I know he took a longer time to destroy for good." Mako nodded confidently as she studied the tray of cookies.

"You made it pretty clear that you had gotten over her and her attitude," Mako slowly reasoned, "And Jii actually came across a passage that said that she was weaker than the other two Gedous we've encountered. She was very sick in her young adulthood so it worked in her benefit to charm strong men to tend to her." Caden sighed in relief at her words and Ryunosuke happened to walk by the kitchen at that time.

"Ryu-san," Caden called out to him, "I owe you a thank you for everything you said earlier. It really brought me back to normal and made me realize that I owe Adele so much time that I lost thanks to Kari." Ryunosuke modestly accepted the thanks as he stepped into the kitchen.

"I was glad to help," Ryunosuke replied as he made his way over to the group. He noticed the tray of cookies and sniffed the air. "Those look good."

"They aren't cool yet," Caden warned him as Ryunosuke's hand hovered over the tray, "I'd say about 2 more minutes and we're good." Ryunosuke sighed impatiently and he nervously looked over at Mako. He didn't get to try her sandwich that she made with Caden but according to the kuroko, it looked edible and actually wasn't a total disaster. Mako grew impatient and picked a cookie near the edge of the tray to try.

"Hot!" she whimpered as she fanned her mouth after taking too big of a bite. Caden panicked and grabbed a glass and the carton of milk quickly. He poured a small amount out and handed it immediately to Mako as she continued to fan her mouth. She accepted the glass and took a long drink. Ryunosuke grimaced and felt afraid to even try the cookies after what she did back there. Mako moved the glass away and sighed.

"Still a bit hot to eat," she announced to the two, "But they are very good other than that." Ryunosuke nervously grabbed a cookie and broke it in two to make it cool faster. Caden took a cookie too and blew on the cookie before biting into it.

"Yeah these turned out well," he remarked brightly, "Good job again Mako. Maybe we'll have Adele teach you the art of hot sandwiches next since its the next step up?" Mako nodded happily, proud of her efforts and Ryunosuke decided to give in and take a taste. Warm, melty chocolate chips swirled with soft cookie batter blended in his mouth and he smiled. Mako finally got it right. He stuck his head out of the door and ran to go tell the others.

"Minna-san! Come taste these cookies that Mako and Caden made!" he called out to the group. Kotoha came running and Genta followed behind her. Chiaki and Takeru were still chasing each other and Adele shook her head at the pair. Ryunosuke blinked at the sight and joined Adele.

"What is wrong with Tono?" he asked her, "This is so unlike him! Wait, is it something stupid I did?" Adele shook her head no and pulled up the fake profile of Takeru Shiba that Chiaki had made for FaceBook.

"Chiaki made this fake profile of Takeru a while ago," Adele explained as she showed Ryunosuke, "And he added some very, ahem, lovely Japanese ladies that he thought Takeru would like to be friends with." Ryunosuke's brow furrowed and he began chasing after Chiaki for his stupidity.

Adele rolled her eyes at the trio and Caden joined her.

"Still acting like idiots?" he asked her as he handed her a cookie.

"Yes indeed," she confirmed as she bit into the warm cookie.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Not Too Late to Apologize

Caden couldn't sleep. He continued to toss and turn in his bed and suddenly bead drops of sweat formed on his forehead. He couldn't stand it anymore. He needed air now. He opened the door to his room which opened out onto the courtyard where the training area was. Cold night breezes hit his face as he quietly slid the door back, trying to avoid waking anyone else in the house. He walked back and forth for a brief period of time before sitting down on the edge of the porch. A sharp gust of wind brushed across his face and he closed his eyes immediately.

It felt good to be free. No more complaining. No more feeling like Kari's slave. No more canceled plans. And...more time with his best friend. He let out a huge sigh and leaned back on the deck. Adele hadn't really showed that she was any bit upset for him acting like a dork back there but he still felt that he owed her a huge apology. Not for acting like the soulless heavyweight when realizing how evil his ex was but for everything she put Adele through. He felt angry with himself for letting Kari rule his schedule instead of telling her no sometimes. Caden became so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't hear Adele's door slide open at that moment.

"Hello Mr. Insomniac," she greeted him as she sat down next to him, "What keeps you up at this hour?" He smiled a little at her words and turned his head toward her.

"Listen," he began slowly, "I, I owe you a huge apology."

"For?" she questioned him puzzled.

He sucked in his breath and pulled his thoughts together. "Well, for," he continued, "For being a sucky friend. I let Kari walk all over you and almost left you in the dust because of her."

He waited to hear her reply and could feel his insides freezing up in fear. She wasn't answering him right away which made him very nervous. Then before he knew it, Adele crushed her small form around his body into a weak attempt at a bear hug. He was stunned but at the same time, very relieved. He allowed his arms to wrap themselves around her petite form and squeezed her closer to his chest. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla tickled his nostrils as her hair brushed across his cheek.

"I forgive you Cades," she told him as she rested her head on his shoulder, "You're my best friend. What would I do without you anyways?" Caden smiled happily as he continued to hold her. His face warmed slightly and all of a sudden, his heart beat a bit faster. Why?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: But I Can't Pretend That I'm Not Thinking About You

Mako could sense that Caden seemed distracted today during their cooking lesson. He had almost thrown the milk carton away while it was still half full. The cold cuts had been tossed in the sink while still wrapped in the new packaging. Something was on his mind obviously. When Caden had placed the basic meat-filled sandwich on a plate to try, Mako decided to speak up.

"Something on your mind?" she asked curiously as she lifted a half of the sandwich from the plate, "It's not like you to just place things in the wrong area like that." Caden snapped out of the trance he was in at the moment and quickly tossed down the dishcloth he had been fiddling with in his hands.

"Huh? Oh I guess today is an off day for me," he mused out loud before taking a large bite out of the other half of the sandwich. He chewed quickly and allowed a large smile to come across his face. Mako raised an eyebrow before taking a small bite out of her half. Caden swallowed hard and turned his head away for a brief moment while Mako was busy enjoying her sandwich half. He didn't want to talk about what was bugging him. Well, in this case, who was bugging him.

Adele. When she was a little girl, she was quite round in the face and always wore baggy clothes that came from the boys department. Her hair was short and kind of stick up-ish then too. But he didn't care then because she had been the first person who accepted him for a person of character rather than the new kid who was terrible at speaking English. Holding her last night had jolted him for some reason. Heck, why though? Sure, as they got older her hair grew longer and straighter. And she started losing the oversized sloppy tomboy look from her childhood and wore clothes that fit her better. Now that he thought about it, she looked more...like a adult with her gentle, soft curves that swooped in to form her hourglass figure and outward to form her hips. Not at all like when they were preteens for she was flat and shapeless like a board then.

Mako broke again into his thoughts, asking how she did making the sandwich. Caden quickly took another bite and smiled as he gave her a thumbs-up. She beamed at him and excused herself to greet Kotoha who had come in from training with Chiaki, Ryunosuke, and Adele. Caden turned away slowly and continued to eat and ponder.

Well, then again, some things hadn't changed with Adele. Her clothes did fit her better but she was never a big fan of dresses, short skirts, or overly revealing clothing like the girls on their college campus. She refused to attend any school dances because she thought the venues were an absolute bore. And she continued to tell things like they were rather than keeping her mouth shut sometimes.

"Adele-chan," scolded Mako as she got a good look at a sweaty Adele coming in from practice, "That is not the correct uniform for a girl." Mako was referring to the practice robes they wore for the training sessions they did every day. She and Kotoha wore yellow skirts whereas Chiaki, Takeru, and Chiaki wore dark blue pants. Adele, however, had chosen the outfit for the boys to train in. Mako shook her head at Adele and walked into Adele's room to study the items of clothing that were brought for the trip. Adele folded her arms across her chest and watched as Mako looked in Adele's closet to see only shorts, jeans, pants, t-shirts, and a jacket or two.

"And you didn't even bring a single nice skirt or dress to wear," she noted with a touch of disappointment in her voice. Then, as if she came up with a brilliant idea, she pushed Adele to the bathroom to clean up.

"Once you're done showering," Mako told her, "We are going shopping to get you a new skirt and maybe a nice dress."

"Mako-sempai? I am sorry to tell you this but uh," Adele began to explain as they reached the end of the hallway, "I do not wear short skirts, dresses, or anything that resembles college tramp wardrobe." Mako ignored her and closed the door behind her.

"I really do not need a mother figure right now Mako!" Adele shouted from the other side. Mako remarked calmly on the other side that she did not care and that the trip was taking place, whether Adele liked it or not. Caden grimaced and walked out of the kitchen to meet Mako and Ryunosuke who was coming back from training.

"Good luck trying to get her to cooperate," warned Caden as he stopped briefly to talk to the pair, "She's as stubborn as a bull. And she's probably going to tell you that she doesn't have any funds to purchase extra clothes while here. Her dad put her on a budget for this trip to begin with." But Caden's words fell deaf on Mako's ears and merely reassured him that she had it all under control. He shrugged his shoulders at her before walking back to his room. Part of him did not want to emerge once they got back for fear that all Hell should break loose and Adele returning, giving Mako the silent treatment. Ryunosuke stared at the retreating young man's back then looked over at Mako.

"Obviously," he noted carefully, "You're planning something, aren't you Mako-chan?" She smiled slightly and allowed the corners of her lips to turn up slowly.

"Well, yes," she agreed, "But trust me, it will be good for both of them. Are you with me on this?" He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged.

"I guess I'm in then."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Because She Just Set Her Up

Caden tossed a fresh pancake upward to cook it on the other side. Tonight's meal was breakfast for dinner, thanks to Chiaki commenting how he wanted pancakes or waffles today. Ryunosuke was about to protest to the idea of eating reverse meals at the wrong times but Takeru settled the matter by saying how he could use a break from conventional dinner-style food. Kotoha seemed overjoyed that Caden would be cooking period and Genta told the group that he'd join them once the crowds died down from manning the Gold Sushi cart. Only Adele and Mako hadn't been back for several hours.

"Bah," groaned Chiaki loudly, "Where the Hell is Nee-san and Adele? They'll miss dinner soon." Suddenly, Ryunosuke came out of nowhere and promptly smacked Chiaki on the head.

"If there had been a problem," Ryunosuke sternly remarked, "Nee-san would have sent us a message. Trust me, she'll be back soon with Adele." Chiaki snorted and mumbled under his breath that he really didn't want to trust Ryunosuke one way or the other. Takeru left to go check on Caden's cooking and Kotoha joined the boys, dressed in her normal clothes. She cringed at the sight of her bruise that she had received from tripping over a rock in the training field while sparring against Ryunosuke earlier that day.

"How is it looking Kotoha-chan?" asked Ryunosuke as he came over to her, "Still pretty bad I'd say." Kotoha shook her head at Ryunosuke and replied that it would be all right.

"Besides," she continued, "It's my fault that I'm such a klutz." Ryunosuke opened his mouth to protest when he heard the sound of the main door opening and turned his head in time to see Mako with Adele sullenly following behind her. He craned his neck to get a better look and realized that Mako had been making Adele wear her new skirt home. Adele looked as if she would rather shovel Mako's cooking down her throat and choke from its terrible contents than sit on a cushion dressed the way she was. Ryunosuke tried to look supportive as Mako guided Adele to an unoccupied cushion inside the main meeting room.

"Where did you two ladies end up finding such a nice skirt?" Ryunosuke brightly asked the pair as Adele awkwardly took her seat and spread her skirt out around her knees. Mako smiled and told Ryunosuke that they had searched the local area near the Shiba household but had been unsuccessful.

"So the kuroko suggested that we go to Shibuya," she perked up, "So we finally found one inside 109 for a great price." Adele grimaced and looked nauseous. Ryunosuke could probably guess that the two ladies had argued and Mako had miraculously won the fight. Adele would have never picked this option on her own, save for the color which was black. It fell about mid-thigh and was pleated all the way around, much like the schoolgirl uniform skirts. He personally had to admit that even though Adele hated short skirts, they complimented her petite form since she wasn't very tall to begin with. Chiaki had just noticed that Adele was sitting near him and he did a dramatic double take at her.

"Hey! You're back!" he remarked loudly, "And Nee-san won her way as I can see."

"I'm officially not talking to her," Adele retorted irritably as she crossed her arms over her chest. Mako shook her head at her and Ryunosuke tried not to look unhappy at what was unfolding before him. Kotoha chose to be silent since the current scene was going in a bad direction. The quartet waited patiently as Takeru and Genta joined them for the meal ahead.

"Hello, hello everyone!" Genta chirped as he took a seat next to Adele. She smiled faintly at him before averting her gaze. Genta started to comment on Adele's new skirt when Ryunosuke threw him a look and he fell silent. Takeru blinked as he stared at Adele and cleared his throat before walking back to his usual spot. Since everyone had chosen to remain silent on the matter, it seemed so awkward and uncomfortable. Everyone seemed to just want to get dinner over with and get back to whatever they were doing. Ryunosuke looked toward the door and drummed his fingers on his knee. Part of him wondered how Caden would react and he hoped that it would a good reaction rather than a bad one. A bad one would only make Adele angrier at Mako and probably more eager to get out of the limelight immediately. He could smell the fresh trays of breakfast-type items as the kuroko carried them out to each person seated.

"Oh! Is this fresh squeezed juice?" Kotoha asked excitedly as she broke the silence, "Why, I haven't had fresh juice since I was younger! Onee-chan used to drink it with me!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and Ryunosuke noticed that Adele had started to cut up her waffle quickly. Mako threw her a look but it went unnoticed. A minute later, Caden joined the group, wiping his hands on his apron.

"So guys," began Caden cheerfully, "How is everything?" Everyone gave their approval and Caden took a seat across from Adele, completely unaware that everyone else was watching for his reaction to Adele. He removed his apron and began eating a piece of bacon slowly. After crunching for a few moments, he swallowed his mouthful and stared back at his fellow Shinkengers.

"Something wrong guys?" he asked, "Did butter splash up onto my face or something?" Ryunosuke quickly reassured him that it was nothing and Caden shrugged it off as he picked up a piece of toast. Caden turned to face Mako and began chatting with her.

"So Mako," he casually began, "I haven't seen you or Adele all day other than earlier this morning. Where were you guys?"

Adele wished that Mako would, for once, lie for her. She didn't want this stupid shopping trip to turn into a big gossip news deal since she already had enough to deal with as it was. Thea had been begging her for a virtual shoulder to cry on since she had discovered that her boyfriend had been using her for her Chem notes. Her dad told her that her grandmother was on her death bed. And she had been trying to ignore this funny feeling of tickling butterflies in her stomach that had started after accepting Caden's apology. Mako opened her mouth to start telling Caden the full details of her day and Adele took this as a perfect moment to excuse herself without him noticing.

She slid open the door to her room and settled down on her bed. She stared up at the ceiling and made a face. This was weird. It felt like the same feelings she had back when she was just a kid in elementary school. The day that she had punched Aaron Walters, the dweeb who kept pushing Caden around at break time was the first day she actually noticed him. He had a short tuft of dark hair that stuck up at funny angles. He was slightly taller than everyone else since he was a year older than everyone there, according the gossip, Julie. And he had the same slender, almond-shaped eyes that she did. He was, in her words back then, wow. She felt so happy that he appreciated her foolishly thought out act of punching the bully since no one thought they'd ever live to see a girl punch out a boy. They were friends, best friends after that whole deal. Everything after kindergarden seemed fuzzy after that. She could vaguely remember thinking that lots of girls in their third grade class would ask if she knew if he liked anyone. It was because at that time, Caden had grown a lot ever since they first met and was skinny, tall, and kind of shy in third grade. Adele had been the only girl he felt comfortable talking to and much of the time, they either spoke in Japanese or English since he was still learning proper English. He would revert to Japanese if he couldn't figure out the English equivalent at the moment.

Then she remembered how she walked past a group of their classmates that year and overheard the girls commenting how such a nice-looking guy like Caden could hang with the weirdo girl who dressed and acted like a boy. One of those girls said that she thought Adele was the ugliest girl she had ever seen and certainly seemed to think that she was a boy with a girl's name. It was then, that Adele felt ridiculous for feeling so happy that she was close to the guy just like her. The friendship never faltered throughout their teen and college years but still, Adele would dodge the question of whether Caden and she were dating. It wouldn't happen because Caden was tall, friendly, played basketball for the school teams, and had a few admirers who were all like him. They were pretty, popular, sporty types who were more feminine than she was. Even though he was the center of girls' attention much of the time, Caden had only dated one girl and that was Kari. The other girls came to loathe her, especially since she flaunted the fact that she had one of the best guys at their school as her man.

She grimaced as she sat up and began pulling her sleep set from the closet to change into. She wished that she could ball this stupid skirt up and throw it in the nearest trash can but at the same time, she didn't want to literally throw Mako's money away. It was too kind of her to care and Adele had shouted at her that she'd give and buy the skirt for Mako's sake but she refused to let her pay for it. It was only then did the sales clerk swipe her employee ID and quickly offered to let the girls use her employee discount on the already reduced skirt. Mako then pushed her way to the register and paid cash for the item. To make up for the mess, Mako made her change in the mall's bathrooms into the skirt and wear it home. She glared viciously at men staring at her on the train since the last thing she wanted to have happen was to be groped by some random, messed-up stranger all because of her short skirt. Joy.

Just as she was about lift her t-shirt up and over her head, she heard a tap on the door.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Years Went By and I Still Thought About You

Adele sighed as she let her shirt fall back down and she walked over to the door to see who it was. From the look of the tall shadow in front of it, she didn't need to guess to know it was Caden behind it. She slid the door open and smiled faintly at him.

"Hey Chef Masaharu," she lightly began, "Thanks for breakfast dinner. Great as usual." Caden nodded at her compliment and nervously looked at her.

"Hey, uh, may I come in?" he asked her shakily. She slid the door back further and stepped to the side to let him in. He took a seat on the cushion she tossed to him as she slid the door shut. She sat down opposite him and covered her knees with the pleats of the skirt. She stared at him and he straightened his hunched over form quickly.

"So uh, Mako forced you into a skirt," he finally broke the elongated silence between them.

"Yeah," Adele mumbled embarrassedly as she fiddled with it. She tugged it down lower to cover her knees but was unsuccessful. Caden caught his breath as he found himself watching her do so. He could hear his heart thudding loudly against his chest bones and his palms felt slightly sweaty.

"I doubt that's all you came here to talk about?" prompted Adele as she averted her eyes back up to his. Caden shook his head no and swallowed hard. How to say this. Better yet, how to tell his best friend of several years that he suddenly liked her more than the friendship point.

Caden shifted uneasily in his seat and gathered his thoughts together. Adele's eyes bored into him and he finally found enough courage to say what he needed to say.

"Uh Adele?" he began slowly, "You mean...a lot to me. Not just as a friend but...more than that." He paused briefly and watched her face for any change in emotion. "I, I mean," he continued, "Well, you've done a lot for me. And, and I think that I owe you more than what I've been giving you for the past few years."

Adele turned her head and Caden's shoulders sank. He wasn't getting to her at all.

"No Cades," she mumbled, "I'm just the guy's girl. The tomboy. The comrade. The sidekick. I'm used to being kicked around by everyone else that likes you but hates me. You don't need to worry about it okay? I don't need special treatment." Caden was stunned to hear her words. Did his best friend just diss herself?

"Adele," he patiently told her as he reached his hand to touch her, "That's not true. I mean, you're no girly girl but you've become a lot more than those things you listed." Adele rose to her feet and Caden scrambled to his and grabbed her in a large bear hug.

"Come on already!" he insisted as he squeezed her close, "I know you aren't crazy about the skirt Mako chose but I like it! You look cute in it." Adele's face burned as her face became buried in her friend's chest. Did he just say that she looked cute? She pulled away from him slightly and her cheeks became quite rosy.

"Did you just say I looked cute?" she surprisedly asked him. Caden smiled mischievously as he met her eyes.

"Well, I could have said sexy but then again, you probably would have hurt me if I said that," Caden remarked teasingly. Adele flushed a deeper shade of red and Caden placed his hand on her face.

"Um really?" Adele shyly asked him, "You mean it?" Caden held Adele at arms length and nodded.

"Without you killing me for looking at you this way," Caden warned as he began listing the changes, "Yes. Adele, you've grown and changed from the toughie punching the bullies to an amazing girl. Your hair grew longer and prettier. You're no longer flat as a board but curvy in all the right places. And...you are sweet." He stopped for a moment to let his words sink in but soon found Adele planting a soft, gentle kiss on his lips for 5 seconds. It completely caught him off guard but he was happy. His face warmed as she broke off the kiss, leaving a few inches between them.

"Caden Masaharu," she sighed, "I had this stupid crush on you ever since I first saw you before I beat up Aaron. But I always thought that I had the lowest shot in history of ever being more than friends with you." Caden smirked as he pressed his body closer to Adele and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Adele's balance became slightly wobbly because they were so close and she knocked Caden to the floor, falling on top of his sprawled form. Their hips crashed against each other and Adele's face became buried in Caden's chest. Her face grew warm again and Caden bit his lip trying to hold in a moan. He shakily rested his hands by the sides of Adele's hips and smiled.

"Mmmm," he sighed, "Since when did you have hips that didn't lie?"

"Uh around 15 or 16?" she guessed, "Well I started flat and filled out around 12 or 13 then things started cinching inward and others moved more outward." He blushed slightly and closed his eyes. He was slightly guilty for being a sucker for girls with an hourglass shape and healthy curves in the hips and thighs ever since he studied a history of American ideals and pop culture in his sophomore year history course. The teacher hated the 50s and tried his hardest to skim the section and reach the other eras quickly. But that hadn't deterred Caden from reading the passages on 50s culture and the information on the changing styles. There had been a huge section on the rise of the Vargas pin-up style girls dressed in form-fitting bathing suits and their ideal body type during the time. So after that accidental discovery, he was slightly obsessed. Kari had been too short in the torso and very flat in the hips and behind area. He wasn't insistent that his girlfriend have the perfect body but he felt slightly discouraged that she was the absolute antithesis of what he thought was healthy and attractive. She had always been dieting and over-exercising and it irked him big time.

"So I guess you still are obsessed with the 50s body," Adele teased as she sat up and moved off of Caden. He blushed and coughed slightly. It made him remember the time when he was reading a book on the rise of Vargas pin-ups that he borrowed from the local library and Adele walked in to study for their history exam. He flew into an embarrassed frenzy and tried to hide the book but Adele won and had snatched it from his hands. She teased him about it a little but then commented that at least he wasn't looking at the Hollywood ideal of now. Why hadn't he noticed after all these years that the right girl had been there this whole time?

"Hey, uh, I'll leave you to change okay?" Caden reluctantly told her as he stood up to leave. Adele nodded faintly and bid him good night. Caden's head was swirling as he walked back to his room, almost in a daze. He didn't even realize that his bed was missing until he had changed his clothes. Honestly? What kind of a joke was this?

"Can't believe it," he grumbled to himself as he began to head back toward Adele's room to tell her. He stopped short when he saw a group of kuroko exit her door and scurry back to what they were doing. He stuck his head in to see that his bed had been placed next to Adele's. He blinked in surprise and almost walked smack into Adele who had returned from brushing her teeth.

"Did you...?" Caden nervously asked Adele as he gestured to the set-up. Adele shook her head and studied the placement. Then it hit her.

"Mako and Ryunosuke," she spoke up as she walked back in, "They set us up. Figures since this seems like their work." Caden shook his head at the sky and muttered how the two schemers needed to mind their own business.

"Do, uh, you want me to leave?" Caden asked Adele. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. She shook her head no as she snuggled under the covers of her bed.

"I doubt that the kuroko will really want to help you after they just did that," Adele remarked amusedly, "And I'm betting you anything that Ryunosuke is making sure that you don't remove your bed from here." He pulled back the covers of his bed and settled in. Adele's eyes had already grown heavy with sleep and Caden could hear her restful breathing. Her hand laid near the right side of his bunk and he wrapped his fingers around her small hand.

"And it worked out in the end," he sighed as he felt the heavy strain of sleep overcome him.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Time for Your Confessions

Mako sucked her breath in as she watched for Caden and Adele to come through the entrance to the main meeting room for breakfast. She was informed by Ryunosuke that Caden's bed had successfully been moved into Adele's room and not moved back. But that didn't mean that something could have gone wrong. Ryunosuke wrung his hands anxiously and he snuck a glance at Mako, sharing the same concerned emotions that she had. He strained his ears and thought he heard footsteps coming toward the room. He turned his head to see Adele entering the room with Caden behind her. No hands were held and there were no clear signs that they were even together. Both sat down and began eating the meal prepared by the kuroko.

"Today is our day off," Takeru commented to the group as everyone continued to eat.

"Could we do something fun?" demanded Chiaki impatiently, "We worked our butts off fighting that Gedou and the Nanashi Renjuu lately and fun is what we need." Ryunosuke almost hit Chiaki for cutting off their lord when Kotoha chimed in that Chiaki's idea seemed like a good idea.

"Oh! What a great idea Chiaki!" she cried out joyfully. She looked hopefully toward Takeru and bowed before him. "Tono-sama," she prompted, "Would it be all right if we had a relaxing, fun day today? And you should come too this time." Everyone waited to hear for Takeru's response and he nodded in agreement. He felt like having some time off too.

"Any suggestions Minna-san?" he asked the group. Everyone thought long and hard. Well, except for Ryunosuke who was still dying to know what happened between Adele and Caden last night. Mako tried to not look at the pair but it was nearly impossible. She felt slightly worried that she Ryunosuke might have muddled the relationship between the two already. Then Adele broke the silence.

"How does Universal Studios Japan sound?" she offered, "Caden and I have always wanted to see the Jaws ride and the other neat attractions that the Japan park has to offer. Plus, I don't think we've all gone there, right?" Everyone shook their heads no and Takeru felt relieved that she didn't mention the nearby amusement park with the haunted house since he refused to set foot in there again.

"Then you'll need to catch the next train immediately," spoke up Jii as he came in with a train schedule clutched in his hand, "Which leaves in about 30 minutes." Chiaki abruptly put down his fork and scrambled to his feet to grab his train pass and wallet. Kotoha excused herself to brush her teeth and grab her backpack. Genta ran to go close up his sushi cart and Takeru left to gather his coat and some money for the tickets. This left Adele, Caden, Mako, and Ryunosuke alone in the main room. Ryunosuke rose to his feet and Mako joined him. Just as they were about to leave, Caden spoke up.

"We knew it was both of you behind the shenanigans last night," he pointed out, "Why else would Mako rush Adele out to buy her a skirt and come back to tell me all about it. And Ryunosuke, the chat with the kuroko before dinner made me suspicious to begin with. Especially since you didn't want to be heard." Both stopped in their tracks and reluctantly turned to face the duo.

"You two set us up," Adele chimed in as she confronted them. Ryunosuke felt like falling to his knees to beg for forgiveness and Mako felt her confidence waiver slightly.

"We actually owe you a big thank you," Caden sheepishly admitted as he clapped a hand on Ryunosuke's shoulder.

"As a little kid," Adele confessed, "I really liked Caden even before I became his friend. But I always thought that the jock girl would win with him. And thanks to you two, I now know that it doesn't always end up that way." Ryunosuke let out a huge sigh of relief and Mako's face brightened again.

Caden cocked his head sideways and stared at the troublemaking pair. "What?" he asked them, "Oh wait a second, you guys got worried that some how the idea would train wreck and we'd end up in a worse friendship than ever."

"Well..." Ryunosuke trailed off, "Yes. We knew it was risky but-"

"We were pretty sure that you two did care more for each other," Mako finished for him, "Caden gave himself away when we were making sandwiches earlier yesterday." Caden flushed deeply and turned his head as Adele looked up at him with an amused expression on her face.

"So gang," sighed Adele, "I really do appreciate what you guys have done for us. Really. But we can't stand here for too long if we want to go catch the train to get to Universal Studios right?" Ryunosuke looked at the clock on his Shodophone and ran off to grab his belongings. Mako began walking quickly back to her room to gather her purse and Adele shook her head at the two as she patted her pocket for her wallet and balm.

"Typical," she murmured as she stood by the doorway.

"No kidding," Caden confirmed as they waited for the group to hurry up.


	16. Special: She's Got Guts

How Caden met Adele. This is told as if Caden was telling the rest of the Shinkengers as a flashback.

* * *

She's Got Guts

"Be good Caden," Mom said. She smoothed my hair down but the flyways stayed up.

I stared up into her eyes and gave her a big smile. She returned it with a small one before nervously wandering into the parking lot.

Mom was nervous about me. Not just because I was her first son going off to kindergarden but because I was going a year late. She blamed my dad for speaking to me in Japanese right off the bat along with my grandpa. Because of that, I learned English pretty slowly.

"Children," Mrs. Willow said. "let's say hello to our new student Caden."

Some kids shouted hi at me while others just stared. Most of the kids were very pale and had larger eyes than me. Then a brown-haired, green-eyed boy spoke to me.

"What's wrong with you?" he yelled. "Don't you know how to talk?"

His words sounded jumbled in my mind and I forced myself to try to speak. Only...it wasn't English that came out. Soon, the rest of the class was laughing loudly at me and I slumped lower in my seat. My eyes remained glued to the table as we learned about the alphabet. I felt something whiz past my ear and I looked up to see the same boy staring back at me. The others at his table howled in laughter, which made Mrs. Willow stop what she was doing and scold them.

"Here Caden," Mrs. Willow told me as she placed apple slices and cinnamon graham crackers in front of me.

I smiled hopefully up at her and she patted me on the shoulder. But that smile soon disappeared as I looked down to find my snacks gone.

"He's really dumb," the boy from earlier said loudly. "He's too dumb to even know how to say something we all know!" He looked over at me and tauntingly waved my crackers in the air.

I lowered my eyes to the table and stared at the faint reflection in the surface. I didn't understand every word of what he had said, but it wasn't good obviously.

"You enjoyed your snack Caden?" Mrs. Willow asked me kindly.

I didn't know how to tell her. How could I tell her that I never even got snack because it was taken from me? All I could do was nod and she then announced that it was recess.

The next few days were awful. The boy, who turned out to be Aaron, continued to steal my snacks and make fun of me. Mrs. Willow tried her best to punish him whenever she caught him misbehaving, but it didn't deter him at all.

Mom always tried to ask how school was. I never answered her at all. Instead, I grabbed the box of Goldfish crackers and ate a few because I never got my snack. The arguing between her and my dad escalated. She yelled at him because I wasn't saying anything while Dad snapped back that he and grandpa were not to blame.

"Hey you!" Aaron yelled at me as we left for recess on Friday.

I stared confused at him and he laughed and pointed at me. His friends laughed too, one of them, threw a crayon at me. Terrified, I took off running down the hall as fast as my little legs could carry me. My head turned to look back, horrified to see them following me. Where was the nice Mrs. Willow?

I saw light as I burst through the door to the playground and I searched for somewhere to hide. But luck was against me and soon my face met with the ground.

"Hey guys! He's not only dumb but a chicken!" Aaron laughed as he held me down to the ground.

Soon, a group of kids surrounded us and I shut my eyes to close out the sight before me. Then I heard a girl's voice.

"Cut it out!"

Aaron loosened his grip on my arm, which he had pinned against my back. I slowly opened my eyes and saw through a tiny gap that a girl, who looked a lot like me with almond shaped eyes and dark hair was talking.

"I don't have to listen to you Adele," he sniggered.

She glared at him and stomped up to the circle of people. I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen. Suddenly, she pulled her hand into a fist and punched Aaron square in the nose. The group of kids gasped in shock and all of them stepped away from her. Aaron slunk away too, clutching his nose which was bleeding heavily. His friends ran to get away from her as soon as they saw what had happened.

"You all right?" she asked me in Japanese. She offered me her small hand and I looked up at it.

"Yes," I replied as I took her hand. "Thank you."

Before I could say anything else, I saw Mrs. Willow and another teacher running toward the group of kids. Mrs. Willow pulled me away from Adele while the other teacher began scolding Adele for punching a student. She tried to explain to the teacher but it was too late for she was being led away.

"Caden," Mrs. Willow said gently. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to put you in time out for this. Your parents will informed about this." She took my hand and walked to me to an empty room. She pointed to the corner and told me to sit quietly without talking for 5 minutes. I walked over to the stool and sat down on it. My head perked up when I heard the door creak open again and I heard footsteps approaching me. Adele sat down on a stool next to mine and stared at the wall.

I was in a daze still. Had someone really saved me from this torture? And it was someone...like me?

I felt a hand on mine and I glanced over to see Adele smiling at me. My fingers curled around her hand and I smiled back. For getting time out today, it wasn't so bad.

"Caden why did you fight that boy?" Mom asked me unhappily as she and Dad picked me up.

Dad groaned as he rumpled his hair. "Honey, I said he didn't fight the boy, the little girl did! That's what the teacher told us."

"She helped me Daddy," I blurted out in Japanese. "Aaron wasn't nice to me and she didn't like it."

"See honey," Dad pointed out. "He made a friend out it. How bad is that?"

Mom sighed as she checked the rear view mirror for people driving behind her. Then she caught my eye in the mirror.

"Caden, sweetheart," she began. "I'm glad you made a friend. But next time, we don't fight others to make new ones. Got it?"

"Yes Mommy," I slowly replied.

I heard her breathe a sigh of relief as she backed out of the parking space and began heading home. As she pulled up to a stop light, I looked around and saw that Adele was seated in the car next to mine. I craned my neck to look at her and she smiled and waved.


End file.
